A  PRACTICAL  GUIDE 
FOR  AUTHORS 


WILLIAM  STONE  BOOTH 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

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A  PRACTICAL  GUIDE  FOR  AUTHORS 


A  PRACTICAL  GUIDE 
FOR  AUTHORS 

IN  THEIR  RELATIONS  WITH 

PUBLISHERS  AND 

PRINTERS 

BY 

WILLIAM  STONE  BOOTH 


BOSTON    AND    NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   AND   COMPANY 

CCbe  Ribcrpibe  $re£&  Cambtiboe 
1907 


COPYRIGHT  1907  BY  W.  S.   BOOTH 

Published  April  IQ07 


PREFACE 

The  index  to  this  book  contains  a  refer- 
ence to  each  of  those  questions  and  diffi- 
culties which  may  arise  during  negotiations 
for  the  sale  of  a  manuscript  to  a  pub- 
lisher, or  in  the  relations  which  exist  between 
a  publisher  and  an  author  after  a  work  has 
been  accepted,  and  while  it  is  being  printed 
and  published. 

A  publisher  cannot  afford  to  let  a  valuable 
manuscript  slip  through  his  hands  without 
good  reason.  He  is  as  eager  to  find  a  manu- 
script acceptable  as  the  author  is  to  have  it 
accepted.  The  prosperity  of  the  publisher 
is  inseparable  from  the  prosperity  of  the 
author.  Authors  may  therefore  rest  assured 
that  their  work  will  be  carefully  read,  whether 
the  directions  in  this  book  are  observed  or 
not.  If  they  are  followed,  however,  both 
author  and  publisher  will  be  saved  much 

time,  money,  and  effort. 

W.  S.  Booth. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  December,  1906. 


CONTENTS 

Preparation  of  the  Manuscript  or  Copy     .  i 

The  Blue  Pencil 5 

Offering  a  Manuscript  to  a  Publisher  .    .  7 

Advance  Royalties 9 

The  Literary  Agent 12 

Copyright 17 

The  British  Market 19 

Serial  Rights 26 

Agreements  and  Contracts 28 

Cover  Designs 38 

How  a  Publisher  may  be  helped  by  an  Author  39 

Advertising  and  Descriptive  Circulars  .    .  42 

Press  Copies 46 

Proof-Reading 48 

Signs  used  in  Proof-Reading 54 

Types;  Sizes  generally  used  in  Books    .     .  57 

Proof  with  Corrections 58 

Specimen  of  Corrected  Proof 59 

American  Rules  for  Spelling  and  Punctua- 
tion    60 

English  Rules  for  Spelling  and  Punctuation  85 

French  Spelling,  etc 141 

German  Spelling,  etc 163 

Division  of  Latin  Words 171 

Division  of  Greek  Words 172 

Index 175 


A  PRACTICAL  GUIDE  FOR 
AUTHORS 

PREPARATION  OF  THE  MANU- 
SCRIPT OR  COPY 

Write  on  one  side  of  the  paper.  Sheets 
written  on  both  sides  are  called  "backed 
copy,"  and  are  troublesome  to  the  printers 
and  readers. 

Use  white  paper,  about  eight  inches  wide, 
and  ten  or  eleven  inches  long.  Leave  a  lib- 
eral margin  on  the  left  hand  and  at  the  top 
of  each  sheet. 

Do  not  use  two  sizes  of  paper  in  the  same 
manuscript. 

Let  there  be  a  full  quarter  of  an  inch  be- 
tween the  lines  of  a  manuscript,  whether 
written  by  machine  or  by  hand. 

Number  each  sheet  of  a  manuscript  con- 
secutively, and  do  not  page  one  chapter  in- 
dependently of  another. 


2  A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Black  ink  should  always  be  used  for  hand- 
writing. 

The  author's  name  and  address  should  be 
clearly  written  on  the  front  of  the  manuscript, 
and  a  copy  of  the  manuscript  should  always 
be  retained  in  view  of  the  possible  loss  of  the 
original.  It  is  easy  to  make  a  carbon  copy 
when  typewriting  a  manuscript. 

To  fold  or  roll  a  manuscript  makes  it 
unhandy  for  readers  and  printers.  Send 
manuscripts  flat  through  the  mail  or  by  ex- 
press. 

Binding,  sewing,  or  fastening  a  manu- 
script, either  wholly  or  in  part,  is  trouble- 
some to  every  one  who  has  to  handle  it.  A 
manuscript  can  be  read  most  easily  leaf  by 
leaf. 

Typewritten  work  is  easier  to  read  and  to 
correct  than  handwriting.  It  saves  the  com- 
positors time  and  prevents  typographical 
errors.  The  manuscript  should  be  clear, 
with  strong  ink  and  good  alignment.  Faint 
typewriting  is  hard  to  read.  Thin  or  tissue 
paper  is  difficult  to  hold. 


Preparation  oj  the  Manuscript  or  Copy    3 

An  author  will  find  that  the  easiest  way  to 
prepare  a  voluminous  manuscript  is  to  keep 
each  chapter  loosely  between  paper  covers 
and  not  tied  or  fastened.  The  paper  cover 
should  bear  the  number  and  title  of  the 
chapter. 

Long  notes  or  added  matter  should  be 
written  on  a  separate  page,  and  numbered 
next  to  and  consecutively  with  the  text. 
Make  a  reference  to  it  by  the  word  "Note," 
or  by  an  asterisk  (*). 

A  short  note  may  be  inserted  between 
two  lines  drawn  across  the  page,  and  a  refer- 
ence made  to  it  in  the  text  by  an  asterisk, 
thus  (*) 

Note. 

Some  authors  prefer  to  put  their  notes  at 
the  foot  of  the  manuscript  sheet,  but  it  is 
often  impossible  to  foresee  how  many  notes, 
or  how  much  space  for  them,  will  be  needed 
on  a  sheet. 

Quotations  or  passages  from  the  works  of 
other  authors  are  often  printed  in  a  type 


4  A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

smaller  than,  or  different  from,  that  of  the 
text,  or  with  a  different  leading;  they  should 
therefore  be  carefully  marked  on  the  manu- 
script. 

Use  mucilage  to  join  one  piece  of  paper  to 
another.  Do  not  use  pins.  Pinned  papers 
fall  apart,  and  so  cause  confusion  and  waste 
of  time  to  publisher  and  printer.  When 
they  are  separated,  they  are  likely  to  be  lost 
or  set  up  out  of  place. 

The  manuscript  should  be  clearly  marked 
to  show  where  a  cut  or  an  illustration  is  to 
be  placed.  Illustrations  themselves  should 
be  pasted  on  a  separate  sheet,  following  the 
sheet  to  which  they  refer.  The  illustrations 
of  a  technical  work  should  always  be  num- 
bered. 


THE   BLUE   PENCIL 

When  a  man  has  something  to  say,  he  will 
find  his  chief  difficulty  to  be,  not  with  gram- 
mar nor  punctuation,  but  with  the  tendency 
to  redundance.  The  proof-readers  will  cor- 
rect the  two  former  faults,  but  the  author 
himself  must  correct  the  last.  Compare  the 
two  following  passages.  The  first  is  as  it 
was  written,  the  second  as  it  is  after  the 
blue  pencil  has  been  used. 

i 
Among  many  interesting  questions  which 
are  being  discussed  by  educators  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  none  demands  more  serious 
consideration  from  parents,  teachers,  and 
pupils,  from  college  trustees  and  school 
superintendents,  than  the  instruction  of  our 
boys  and  girls  in  the  indispensable  art  of 
writing  English.  To  fit  one's  self  to  be  able 
to  use  one's  mother  tongue  with  skill  and 


6  A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

precision,  to  gain  power  to  explain  one's 
ideas  and  to  persuade  others  to  one's  view, 
is  to  make  a  good  start  on  the  road  to  suc- 
cess in  business  as  well  as  the  professions. 
And  yet  our  spoken  and  written  English, 
strive  as  we  may  to  hold  up  the  finest  ideals 
to  the  rising  generation,  is,  let  us  at  once 
confess  it,  steadily  and  in  spite  of  all  our 
efforts,  manifestly  deteriorating. 

n 

Teaching  English  composition  is  one  of 
the  most  important  questions  now  before 
educators.  Though  skillful  use  of  the  mother 
tongue  carries  one  far  towards  success  in 
any  calling,  yet  spoken  and  written  English 
is  steadily  deteriorating. 


Until  a  writer  has  won  a  mastery  over  his 
pen,  he  must  challenge  every  sentence  and 
paragraph,  and  ruthlessly  cut  out  every  ad- 
jective, adverb,  and  qualifying  clause  which 
can  be  spared. 


OFFERING   A    MANUSCRIPT   TO    A 
PUBLISHER 

Before  offering  a  manuscript  to  a  pub- 
lisher with  whose  business  you  are  not  famil- 
iar, get  a  catalogue  of  his  publications  and 
satisfy  yourself  that  his  list  is  appropriate 
to  the  kind  of  book  you  have  written.  This 
is  of  importance  to  an  author  who  is  un- 
acquainted with  the  field,  and  who  has  made 
an  investment  of  labor,  time,  and  money  in  a 
manuscript  which  requires  special  handling, 
publishing  machinery,  and  prestige. 

Such  an  inquiry  will  be  a  foundation  for 
a  good  understanding  between  author  and 
publisher,  without  which  it  will  prove  diffi- 
cult to  maintain  satisfactory  relations. 

An  author  will  sometimes  wish  to  know 
the  financial  standing  of  a  publisher,  and 
whether  he  manages  his  business  on  such  a 
conservative  basis  that  he  will  be  able  to  pay 
his  royalties  for  the  full  term  of  copyright,  if 


8  A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 

the  book  is  likely  to  be  of  permanent  value. 
Such  inquiries  can  be  made  through  the 
regular  credit  agencies  when  necessary. 

A  publisher  is  as  eager  to  find  a  manu- 
script acceptable  as  an  author  is  to  have  it 
accepted.  It  may  therefore  be  taken  for 
granted  that  all  manuscripts  will  be  carefully 
read  by  advisers  of  special  training  in  the  sub- 
ject with  which  the  work  deals,  and  by  whose 
opinion  a  publisher  always  strengthens  his 
own  judgment. 

Attach  to  a  technical  work  a  concise  state- 
ment of  its  purpose  and  scope,  in  order  to 
enable  the  publisher  to  see  at  a  glance  which 
of  his  readers  will  be  likely  to  give  him  the 
most  valuable  opinion  upon  it. 

Although  in  a  legal  sense  a  publisher  is 
responsible  only  for  those  manuscripts  which 
he  has  solicited,  he  holds  himself  responsible 
for  the  safety  of  a  manuscript  while  it  is  in 
his  hands. 

Manuscripts  should  be  sent  by  express, 
for  they  can  then  be  traced  in  case  of  loss  or 
misdirection. 


ADVANCE  ROYALTIES 

An  author  sometimes  wishes  a  publisher 
to  contract  to  pay  him  his  royalties  before 
they  are  earned,  and  sometimes  even  before 
the  book  is  published.  This  means  that  the 
publisher  not  only  must  risk  his  money  on 
the  costs  of  manufacture  and  publication, 
but  must  also  assume  a  risk  which  properly 
belongs  to  the  author. 

An  author  may  be  pleased  to  have  his 
money  offered  to  him  before  it  is  earned,  but 
it  is  plain  that  a  publisher  who  has  at  heart 
the  interests  of  all  the  authors  on  his  list  has 
no  right  to  indulge  in  the  speculation  in- 
volved in  paying  out  to  favored  individuals 
money  which  their  books  may  never  earn. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  the  dan- 
ger of  this  kind  of  speculative  publishing. 
A  publisher's  position  is  in  many  respects 
like  that  of  a  trustee;  and  when  an  author 
has  written  a  valuable  work,  from  which 


io        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

he  expects  to  receive  an  income  for  many 
years,  he  will  consult  his  best  interests  by 
discouraging  this  kind  of  "liberality." 

It  is  an  easy  matter  to  use  care  in  choosing 
a  publisher  with  reference  to  the  subject  and 
importance  of  the  work  to  be  published. 
Write  to  the  various  firms  for  their  catalogues, 
look  them  over,  and  it  will  at  once  be  seen 
which  firms  are  interested  in  those  books 
which  will  live  as  genuine  contributions  to 
literature  or  scholarship,  and  which  firms 
make  a  specialty  of  text-books,  books  for 
the  common  schools,  general  literature,  or 
frankly  ephemeral  literature. 

The  important  question  for  an  author 
is,  "How  can  I  so  place  my  manuscript  that 
I  shall  receive  an  income  from  it  for  many 
years  to  come,  if  it  prove  successful,  and  in 
whose  hands  will  its  future  interests  be  best 
served?" 

Probably  there  is  no  publisher  who,  on 
occasion,  does  not  pay  royalties  before  they 
are  earned ;  but  the  practice  is  unsound, 
and  is  the  result,  in  a  large  measure,'  of  an 


Advance  Royalties  n 

unwholesome  competition  for  ephemeral  lit- 
erature, the  profits  of  which  are  always 
uncertain.  The  public  taste  for  this  class  of 
work  is  too  fickle  for  its  use  as  a  basis  of 
a  permanent  publishing  business.  In  this, 
as  in  all  other  pursuits,  speculation  added 
to  the  ordinary  business  risks  can  lead  only 
to  financial  instability. 


THE   LITERARY   AGENT 

The  legitimate  function  of  a  Literary 
Agent  is  to  counsel  and  advise  an  author  on 
publishing  matters  with  which  he  is  not  con- 
versant, and  to  introduce  the  author  to  a 
publisher  after  having  helped  him  to  deter- 
mine into  whose  hands  the  manuscript  shall 
be  intrusted.  He  also  often  makes  himself 
useful  to  the  author  by  selling  manuscripts 
on  commission,  thus  relieving  the  author  of 
the  trouble  of  disposing  of  his  own  work. 

An  agent  is  a  practical  necessity  to  an 
author  who  cannot  afford  the  time  to  study 
the  contents  of  the  magazines  in  order  to 
know  which  is  most  likely  to  want  the  kind 
of  thing  he  writes.  The  agent's  knowledge 
of  the  needs  of  the  magazines  often  enables 
him  to  sell  a  story  quickly,  especially  if  the 
author  is  already  well  known  and  popular. 

An  agent's  attention  is  usually  devoted 
to  writers  of  fiction.    He  usually  demands  a 


The  Literary  Agent  13 

fee  on  receipt  of  the  manuscript,  a  percent- 
age of  the  amount  which  he  gets  for  the 
story,  or  a  commission  on  royalties  in  the 
case  of  a  book.  He  tries,  as  a  rule,  to  get 
for  the  author  a  payment  from  the  pub- 
lisher on  account  of  the  royalties  before  they 
are  earned.  From  this  sum  he  deducts  his 
charges  or  commissions.  The  employment 
of  an  agent  is  therefore  always  an  expensive 
way  to  sell  a  manuscript. 

If  an  author  can  afford  the  time  and  has  an 
average  business  intelligence,  he  can  make 
the  rounds  of  the  publishers'  offices  as  easily 
as  an  agent,  and  so  save  his  money.  When, 
however,  an  author  has  written  a  serial  or 
story  for  which  magazines  will  be  likely  to 
bid  one  against  another,  he  will  do  well  to 
employ  an  agent.  It  is  an  ungracious  task 
to  sing  the  praises  of  one's  own  work,  and 
an  unskilled  person  is  more  likely  than  an 
agent  to  lose  one  offer  while  trying  to  get 
better  terms  in  another  direction. 

It  is  natural  that  a  well-known  writer 
should   receive  prompt   attention   from  an 


14  A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

editor,  but  an  unknown  writer  may  rest 
assured  that  even  though  his  work  is  not 
promptly  read,  it  is  ultimately  read  with  as 
much  care  as  that  of  his  more  fortunate 
competitor.  When  an  author  thinks  of  em- 
ploying a  deputy  to  visit  the  editors  in  his 
stead,  he  should  reflect  that  he  is  about  to  let 
slip  one  of  the  best  means  of  placing  his  next 
work,  namely,  a  friendly  personal  relation 
with  the  man  to  whom  he  may  wish  to  sell  it. 

An  unknown  author  living  at  a  distance 
can  use  the  services  of  an  agent  to  advantage 
sometimes;  though  even  here  a  good  short 
business-like  letter  will  probably  accomplish 
as  satisfactory  results. 

An  author  who  has  satisfactory  relations 
with  a  publisher  is  often  "approached"  by 
a  literary  agent  with  a  tempting  cash  bait 
as  an  inducement  to  desert  his  publisher 
for  another.  This  is,  of  course,  profitable 
to  the  agent,  but  it  is  a  grave  mistake  for  the 
author  if  his  work  is  of  such  a  quality  that 
it  is  likely,  in  the  long  run,  to  be  salable  in 
a  collected  edition. 


The  Literary  Agent  15 

In  any  business,  most  men  prefer  to  deal 
with  a  principal  rather  than  with  an  agent, 
and  the  wise  author  will  therefore  deal 
directly  with  the  publisher 

No  publisher  is  likely  to  take  quite  the 
same  interest  in  a  book  brought  to  him  by 
an  agent  as  in  one  that  is  brought  to  him 
directly  by  an  author.  His  relations  with  the 
author  through  an  agent  are  not  likely  to 
become  permanent  or  personal,  and  another 
publisher  may  reap  the  results  of  his  work 
in  the  author's  interest.  If  a  publisher  by 
his  business  ability  and  hard  work  makes 
handsome  royalties  for  a  book  brought  to 
him  by  an  agent,  he  often  finds  that  the  agent 
will  make  excessive  demands  when  bringing  a 
second  book  by  the  same  author.  If  a  novel, 
for  instance,  is  well  advertised  in  the  press 
and  by  circular,  and  "pushed"  in  the  book- 
trade,  it  takes  a  sale  of  three  thousand  copies 
to  reimburse  the  publisher.  The  author, 
on  the  other  hand,  will  have  made  about 
five  hundred  dollars  in  royalties  in  the  mean- 
time.   If  a  publisher  has  a  direct  personal 


1 6        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

relation  with  that  author  and  the  likelihood 
of  publishing  another  equally  good  book 
by  him,  he  will  probably  have  spent  his 
profit,  if  he  has  made  any,  in  giving  this  first 
book  a  good  start  in  the  interests  of  the 
second.  If,  however,  he  suspects  that  another 
publisher  will  reap  the  results  of  his  efforts, 
as  is  often  the  case  when  an  agent  has  the 
matter  in  hand,  he  will  be  careful  to  save  all 
the  profits,  instead  of  using  them  in  ways 
which  would  tend  to  establish  the  author's 
reputation,  with  future  common  interests  in 
view. 

From  the  foregoing  remarks  it  can  be 
seen  how  easily  an  author  may  damage 
his  permanent  interests  by  giving  an  agent 
an  unchecked  power  over  the  disposition  of 
his  books.  An  agent  will  lose  his  future 
commissions  if  he  allows  an  author  to  es- 
tablish permanent  and  personal  relations 
with  a  publisher  who  manages  his  business 
in  a  safe  and  conservative  way. 


COPYRIGHT 

Authors  who  wish  to  obtain  a  copyright 
before  parting  with  their  manuscript  can 
do  so  by  following  the  directions  in  Bulletin 
No.  2,  Directions  jor  Securing  Copyrights, 
prepared  by  Thorvald  Solberg,  Register  of 
Copyrights.  This  bulletin  can  be  had,  free 
of  charge,  by  mailing  a  postal  card  to  the 
Librarian  of  Congress.  The  Common  Law 
protects  the  author's  exclusive  right  to  his 
work  and  manuscript  until  it  is  published, 
however.  It  is  customary  to  leave  the  details 
of  copyright  to  the  publisher,  who  will  attend 
to  them  when  the  book  is  ready  for  publica- 
tion. 

The  entry  in  the  Copyright  Office  in 
Washington  is  made  in  the  name  of  the 
author  or  of  the  publisher,  as  agreed  between 
them.  Most  contracts,  on  a  royalty  basis,  are 
made  to  terminate  only  with  the  expiration 
of  copyright.    In  any  case,  the  sole  right  to 


1 8        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

publish  is  held  by  the  publisher  during  the 
term  of  his  contract  with  the  author.  If  at 
the  termination  of  the  contract  the  legal 
term  of  copyright  has  not  elapsed,  the  rights 
revert  to  the  author,  and  become  his  ex- 
clusive property.  After  the  legal  term  has 
elapsed,  the  public  resumes  the  rights  which 
it  granted  to  the  author  under  the  copyright 
laws. 

The  ownership  or  temporary  control  of 
the  copyright  is  governed  by  the  terms  of 
the  author's  contract  with  the  publisher,  and 
is  not  determined  by  the  legal  notice  of 
copyright  which  is  usually  printed  on  the 
back  of  the  title-page. 

It  is  rarely  necessary  to  secure  copyright 
for  an  American  book  in  Great  Britain. 
When  a  book  is  likely  to  sell  in  such  num- 
bers over  there  as  to  tempt  a  pirate,  the 
American  publisher  will  attend  to  the  Brit- 
ish copyright  through  his  agent  or  his  Lon- 
don house. 


THE    BRITISH   MARKET 

American  publishers  usually  supply  the 
British  market  by  selling  an  edition,  in 
sheets,  to  their  agents  in  London,  and  by 
keeping  the  later  demand  supplied  in  the 
same  way.  If  an  author  wishes  to  prevent 
piracy  in  Great  Britain,  he  should  direct  his 
publisher  to  see  that  his  work  is  copyrighted 
in  London  in  compliance  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  British  law,  and  the  interna- 
tional copyright  agreement.  This  will  neces- 
sitate simultaneous  publication  on  both 
sides  of  the  water,  and  will  entail  the  expense 
of  a  few  dollars,  and  possibly  the  delay  of  a 
few  weeks,  in  order  that  six  bound  copies 
may  be  sent  to  meet  the  legal  requirements 
of  the  British  copyright  law. 

There  is  much  misunderstanding  among 
American  authors  as  to  the  advantage  of 
publishing  with  firms  supposed  to  have  a 
house  both  in  England  and  America.    The 


20         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

fact  is  that  any  American  firm  can  arrange 
for  the  publication  in  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies  of  a  book  which  is  likely  to  interest 
British  readers.  Witness  the  activity  of  any 
one  of  the  progressive  American  publishing 
houses,  many  of  whose  books  are  issued  in 
Great  Britain.  Any  one,  for  instance,  who 
has  taken  the  trouble  to  look  over  the 
advertising  columns  of  "The  Spectator," 
"The  Times,"  or  "The  Athenaeum,"  will 
have  seen  that  Messrs.  Archibald  Constable 
&  Company,  of  London,  have  issued  during 
the  past  two  years  in  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies,  jointly  with  Messrs.  Houghton, 
Mifflin  &  Company  of  Boston,  over  one 
hundred  and  fifty  works  by  well-known 
American  authors.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  Boston  firm  —  the  publishers  of  the 
works  of  Emerson,  Longfellow,  Hawthorne, 
Lowell,  Holmes,  and  Thoreau,  to  mention 
but  a  few  names  of  our  national  classics  — 
are  in  the  forefront  of  both  American  and 
Anglo-American  houses  in  the  international 
publication  of  works  by  American  writers. 


The  British  Market  21 

The  enterprise  of  English  publishers  es- 
tablished in  the  American  publishing  field, 
and  their  praiseworthy  activity  in  intro- 
ducing English  books  to  American  readers, 
have  led  American  authors  to  credit  them 
with  facilities  for  publishing  in  England 
which  are  not  possessed  by  American  firms. 
How  erroneous  this  impression  is  has  been 
shown  above.  The  works  of  Prescott,  Park- 
man,  and  Motley,  in  history;  Bret  Harte, 
Hawthorne,  and  Holmes,  in  fiction;  Emer- 
son and  Thoreau,  Longfellow,  Lowell,  and 
Whitman,  in  philosophy  and  poetry,  were 
all  published  in  America  by  American  firms, 
and  owing  to  the  business  enterprise  of  those 
firms  are  now  the  common  literary  heritage 
of  Great  Britain  and  America.  The  same 
claim  might  with  equal  fairness  be  made  in 
respect  of  most  of  the  living  American 
writers  whose  works  have  struck  a  respon- 
sive chord  in  the  hearts  of  British  readers. 

When  we  speak  of  the  publication  of  an 
English  edition  of  an  American  book,  writ- 
ten by  an  author  little  known  in  England, 


22        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

we  should  bear  in  mind  that  such  editions 
usually  do  not  exceed  two  hundred  and 
fifty  copies,  and  almost  never  exceed  one 
thousand  copies.  These  editions  are  sold 
unbound  in  sheets,  and  at  a  price  which 
must  be  a  fraction  of  the  American  pub- 
lished price,  to  allow  for  the  cost  of  binding 
and  for  the  trade  discounts  in  England.  An 
English  edition  of  an  American  book  by  an 
author  little  known  in  England,  therefore, 
brings  small  profit  either  to  the  American 
publisher  or  to  the  American  author,  and 
it  is  of  value  chiefly  in  so  far  as  it  brings 
credit  to  both  in  the  English  reviews,  and 
so  lays  a  foundation  for  the  future  among 
English  readers. 

Where  an  American  author  has  achieved 
popularity  in  Great  Britain,  his  work  is  often 
manufactured  there  and  copyright  secured 
on  both  sides  of  the  water  by  simultaneous 
publication.  In  such  a  case  the  author  will 
receive  payment  from  both  his  American 
and  his  English  publishers. 

American    writers    who    are    ambitious 


The  British  Market  23 

rather  of  adding  distinction  to  the  literary 
history  of  their  country  than  of  making  a 
fortune  will  therefore  show  no  undue  anxiety 
over  the  size  of  their  first  English  editions. 
If,  however,  it  is  the  good  fortune  of  an 
American  publisher  to  issue  the  works  of  a 
writer  of  remarkable  power,  he  will  make 
a  great  business  mistake  if  he  omits  to  take 
advantage  of  copyright  protection  in  Eng- 
land. The  works  of  men  of  genius  like 
Irving,  Cooper,  Emerson,  Longfellow,  Low- 
ell, and  Holmes,  were  in  a  large  measure  un- 
protected in  England,  but  under  the  present 
international  laws  authors  can  now  secure 
their  rights  there,  if  their  publisher  does  his 
duty  by  them,  and  if  they  are  alive  to  their 
own  interests. 

To  a  publisher  who  wishes  to  keep  his 
business  on  a  sound  financial  basis,  it  is 
becoming  of  less  and  less  interest  to  issue 
books  for  authors  who  set  money  above 
all  other  considerations.  Such  authors  are 
rarely  frank  in  their  business  dealings,  and 
the  relation  cannot  be  one  of  long  standing, 


24        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

as  it  should  be  if  an  author  wishes  to  reap  the 
cumulative  effect  of  his  reputation. 

Longfellow,  Holmes,  Emerson,  Thoreau, 
and  Burroughs,  to  name  but  a  few,  are  in- 
stances of  authors  whose  works  have  not 
been  scattered,  and  consequently  are  sold 
in  complete  editions,  or  sets,  under  the  im- 
print of  one  publisher. 

As  a  rule,  the  authors  who  are  the  most 
eager  for  immediate  cash  returns  are  those 
who  are  the  least  likely  to  be  heard  of  ten 
years  hence,  so  the  question  is  one  which 
often  solves  itself. 

A  publisher  of  experience  prefers  to 
launch  a  book  fairly  in  the  book-trade  and 
then  watch  results.  If  the  public  buy  it  in 
profitable  numbers  from  the  booksellers, 
the  booksellers  take  good  care  to  re-order  it, 
and  to  keep  in  stock  a  constant  supply  of 
an  article  in  which  they  can  so  safely  invest 
their  money.  When  a  salesman  calls  on  the 
booksellers  with  a  second  book  by  the  same 
author,  not  only  is  he  likely  to  find  the  book- 
seller ready  to  buy  a  stock  of  the  new  book, 


The  British  Market  25 

but  he  is  pretty  sure  to  sell  more  of  the  first 
book  at  the  same  time.  This  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  cumulative  effect  of  successive 
books  by  one  author  when  they  are  kept 
in  the  hands  of  one  publishing  house.  The 
immediate  returns  may  not  be  so  great  for 
either  author  or  publisher,  but  in  the  long 
run  they  are  usually  greater  than  they  can 
be  if  the  books  are  scattered  among  several 
publishers  whose  interests  clash.  It  is  well 
to  remember  that  the  issue  of  each  new 
book  gives  the  publisher  this  chance  to  bring 
the  former  books  of  the  same  author  to 
the  attention  of  the  booksellers  and  of  the 
public. 


SERIAL    RIGHTS 

When  selling  to  a  magazine  the  serial 
rights  in  a  story  or  other  work,  an  author 
should  be  careful  to  set  down  in  writing  to 
the  purchaser  that  he  reserves  the  right  to 
publish  his  material  in  book  form  after  it 
has  appeared  in  the  magazine.  Some  maga- 
zine proprietors  are  also  publishers  of  books, 
and  it  is  a  common  courtesy  to  offer  them 
the  first  refusal  of  the  book  rights  in  the 
material  which  they  have  published  in  their 
magazines,  unless  the  author  has  already 
established  relations  with  another  book 
publisher.  They  themselves  often  make  this 
a  condition  when  buying  the  serial  rights. 

Before  signing  a  contract  for  the  publica- 
tion of  a  book,  an  author  should  see  that  a 
clause  is  provided  to  stipulate  for  a  definite 
share  of  any  moneys  which  may  be  received 
from  other  publishers  or  persons  by  the  sale 
of,  or  by  the  permission  to  publish,  extracts 


Serial  Rights  27 

or  parts  of  his  book.  This  clause  should  also 
stipulate  for  a  definite  share  of  the  proceeds 
which  may  accrue  from  a  sale  of  the  serial 
rights  after  the  book  has  been  published. 
Such  a  sale  is  infrequent,  but  it  should  be 
provided  for,  in  order  to  avoid  later  mis- 
understanding. 


AGREEMENTS  AND   CONTRACTS 

There  is  very  little  difference  between  the 
forms  of  agreement  used  by  reputable  pub- 
lishers. They  vary  in  minor  details,  and  their 
terms  differ  with  the  subject  of  the  work, 
its  purpose,  and  its  prospect  of  sale.  The 
publisher  usually  assumes  the  cost  of  manu- 
facturing, printing,  and  publishing,  and 
offers  the  author  a  royalty  on  the  retail 
selling  price  of  the  book. 

An  author  sometimes  writes  a  book  which, 
though  scholarly  and  valuable  from  an  in- 
tellectual standpoint,  is  likely  to  have  so  slow 
a  sale  that  a  publisher  will  not  care  to  lock 
up  his  money  in  it.  In  such  a  case  he  fre- 
quently offers  to  publish  it  if  the  author 
pays  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  cost  of  manu- 
facture. The  publisher  will  then  pay  the 
author  a  much  larger  share  of  the  returns,  or 
royalty,  than  he  can  possibly  afford  to  pay 
if  he  bears  the  whole  cost  of  manufacture. 


Agreements  and  Contracts  29 

Books  of  this  nature  are  also  published 
on  a  commission  basis.  The  author  pays  the 
cost  of  manufacture  and  advertising,  and  the 
publisher  accounts  to  him  for  the  net  amount 
of  the  sales  after  deducting  his  commission. 
The  author  will  do  well  to  be  sure  that  he 
understands  all  his  responsibilities  before 
signing  the  agreement;  and  to  bear  in  mind 
that  prices  for  printing  and  manufacture 
vary  according  to  the  quality  of  the  work 
done. 

The  author  is  required  by  the  terms  of  the 
contract  to  hold  himself  responsible  for 
legal  liability  on  account  of  libelous  state- 
ments, and  for  any  infringement  of  another 
author's  copyright. 

The  rights  of  translation,  dramatization, 
and  serial  publication  should  be  provided 
for  in  the  contract. 

As  the  fulfillment  of  any  contract  must 
rest  upon  a  mutual  understanding  of  its 
provisions  and  upon  the  good  faith  and 
good  will  of  both  parties  to  it,  the  author 
should   thoroughly   scan   the   contract   and 


30        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

master  the  bearings  of  each  clause  in  it. 
Here  again  it  is  well  to  reiterate  the  advice 
that  before  deciding  on  a  publisher,  an  author 
should  assure  himself  of  the  commercial 
standing  of  the  firm,  and  of  its  ability  to 
make  good  the '  provisions  of  its  contract 
for  so  long  as  it  shall  continue. 

The  following  form  of  agreement  is  a 
good  one,  and  is  very  generally  used,  with 
slight  variations,  in  contracts  based  upon  a 
royalty  to  be  paid  to  the  author :  — 

Agreement,  made  the_l£«*_day  nf    q**sl 

Zg06 hptwppn      John    Dobbin     nf     Oldtown,  Mass.,    an(j 

Blank  and  Company,  of  the  City  of,  Boston,    Publishers, 
i.    Said     John  Dobbin     hereby  grants  and  assigns  to 
Blank  and  Company  a  work,  the   subject   or  title  of 
which    is    A    History    of  the    United   States    of  America, 

with  all  translations,  abridgments,  selections,  and  rights 
therefor  of  said  work,  or  parts  thereof,  with  exclusive 
right  and  power,  in  its  own  name,  or  in  the  name  of  said 

John  Dobbin,  to  take  out  copyright  thereof,  and  any 
renewal  of  the  same,  and  publish  said  work  during 
the  term  of  said  copyright  in  all  languages.     The  said 

John  Dobbin  guarantees  that  he  js  t^e  sole  owner 
of  said  work  and  has  full  power  and  authority  to  make 
this  contract ;  that  said  work  is  not  a  violation  of  any 


Agreements  and  Contracts  31 

copyright  and  contains  no  scandalous  or  libelous  matter  ; 
that  he  will  defend,  indemnify,  make  good  and  hold 
harmless  Blank  and  Company  against  all  claims,  de- 
mands, suits,  actions  or  causes  of  action  made  or  brought 
against  said  Blank  and  Company,  and  against  all 
loss,  damage,  costs,  charges,  and  expenses  that  the  said 
Blank  and  Company  shall  sustain  or  incur  on  account  or 
by  reason  of  any  scandalous  or  libelous  matter  alleged 
to  be  contained  in  said  work,  or  any  alleged  violation  by 
said  work  of  any  copyright. 

2.  Blank  and  Company  agree  to  publish  said  work 
at  their  own  expense,  in  such  style  as  they  deem  best 
suited  to  the  sale  of  the  work,  and  to  pay  said     Jonn 

Dobbin,  his  representatives  or  assigns,_££2_per  cent 
on  its  retail  price  for  each  copy  by  them  sold.  And 
Blank  and  Company  shall  render  always   semi-annual 

statements  of  account,  in  the  months  of and 

, and  make  settlements  in  cash  four  months 

after  date  of  each  statement.  In  case  an  edition  of  the 
work  shall  be  sold  at  a  reduced  price  for  export,  the 

percentage  to  be  paid  thereon  to  said Jotl"  D°bbtn 

shall  be_£££_per  cent  on  the  American  retail  price. 

3.  Blank  and  Company  may  publish,  or  permit  others 
to  publish,  such  selections  from  said  work  as  they  think 
proper  to  benefit  its  sale,  without  compensation  to  the 
grantor  herein,  but  the  compensation  for  translations  and 
dramatizations  shall  be  subject  to  agreement  between 
the  parties  hereto. 

4.  Alterations  in  type,  plates,  or  otherwise  in  the 
work,  after  delivery  of  copy  to  Blank  and  Company, 
which  exceed_£££_per  cent  of  the  cost  of  original  com- 


32        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

position,  shall  be  at  the  expense  of  said     Jonn  bobbin, 
and  any  index  that  may  be  required  by    Blank    and 
Company  for   said   work   shall   be   prepared   by  said 
John  Dobbin      nr  at  hjs  eXpense. 

5.  If  the  plates  or  type  forms  be  rendered  valueless  by 
fire  or  otherwise,  Blank  and  Company  shall  have  the  op- 
tion of  reproducing  them  or  not,  and  if  they  decline  to 
do  so,  then,  after  the  sale  of  all  copies  remaining  on 
hand,  they  shall  reconvey  the  copyright  and  all  rights 
herein  granted  to  said  J°hn  Dobbin,  his  heirs  or  assigns, 
and  this  contract  shall  terminate. 

6.  If,  at  any  time  after  two  years  from  the  date  of 
publication,  Blank  and  Company  shall  be  satisfied 
that  the  public  demand  does  not  justify  the  continued 
publication  of  the  work,  or  if  for  any  other  cause  they  shall 
deem  its  further  publication  improper  or  inexpedient, 
then  they  may  offer,  in  writing,  to  said  J°n"  Dobbin,  his 
heirs  or  assigns,  the  plates  and  any  original  engravings 
or  illustrations  to  said  work  at  half  cost,  and  all  copies 
then  on  hand  at  cost,  and  said  Joh"  Dobbin,  his  heirs 
or  assigns,  shall  have  the  right  within  sixty  days  to  take 
and  pay  for  the  same,  and  shall  thereupon  become 
sole  owner  of  the  copyright  herein  named,  and  Blank 
and  Company  shall  thereupon  transfer  such  copyright; 
but  if  said  offer  be  not  accepted  and  such  payments 
made  within  sixty  days,  then  Blank  and  Company 
may  destroy  the  plates,  and  sell  all  copies  then  on  hand 
free  of  percentage  to  snid  John  Dobbin,  his  heirs  or  as- 
signs, and  this  agreement  shall  thereupon  terminate,  the 
copyright  reverting  to  saiH  John  Dobbin,  his  heirs  or 
assigns. 


Agreements  and  Contracts  33 

7.  This  contract  may  be  assigned  by  either  party, 
and  the  assignee  thereof  shall  have  all  the  rights  and 
remedies  of  the  original  parties  hereto,  but  only  as  a 
whole,  and  neither  party  shall  assign  any  part  interest 
therein. 

8.  °°°  copies  of  the  complete  work  will  be  fur- 
nished on  publication  to  said  Jonn  Dobbin  hy  Blank 
and  Company  without  charge. 

Signed                       Blank  and  Company. 
John  Dobbin. 

Special  arrangements  necessitate  special 
forms  of  contract,  and  terms  which  vary 
with  the  particular  needs  of  each  case. 

Royalties  paid  by  English  publishers  are 
sometimes  higher  than  those  which  an 
American  firm  can  afford  to  pay  on  works 
of  a  popular  nature.  The  costs  of  manufac- 
ture and  wages  are  much  higher  in  the  United 
States  than  they  are  in  Great  Britain.  In 
both  countries,  however,  royalties  vary  be- 
tween practically  the  same  limits  of  ten  and 
fifteen  per  cent  on  the  published  price  of  the 
book.  They  are  rarely  higher,  and  then  only 
in  the  event  of  phenomenal  sales. 

When  a  work  is  valuable  in  itself  but  is 


34        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

likely  to  meet  with  a  limited  demand,  or 
slow  sale,  a  publisher  often  contracts  that 
the  royalty  on  the  first  thousand  copies  sold 
shall  not  become  payable  until  after  the 
second  thousand  copies  have  been  sold.  An 
author  in  this  way  often  obtains  a  publisher 
for  a  good  book  which  would  entail  too  great 
a  risk  if  issued  on  any  other  royalty  basis. 
Under  this  plan  the  royalties  accruing  after 
the  sale  of  the  first  thousand  copies  are 
payable  on  the  usual  semi-annual  statement 
of  account,  while  those  which  have  accrued 
on  the  first  thousand  will  be  paid  later  when 
two  thousand  copies  have  been  sold. 

The  number  of  complimentary  copies 
which  an  author  receives  gratis  from  the 
publisher  varies  with  the  practice  of  each 
firm. 

Royalties  are  based  on  the  retail  selling 
price  of  a  book,  and  the  price  at  which 
a  book  is  issued  must  be  decided  by  the 
publisher.  The  main  factors  in  determin- 
ing the  price  are  the  costs  of  material  and 
manufacture,  discounts  to  the  booksellers, 


Agreements  and  Contracts  35 

advertising,  and  the  time  it  will  take  to  reim- 
burse the  publisher  for  all  these  outlays. 
No  publisher  can  afford  to  lock  up  his  capi- 
tal too  long  in  any  one  book,  so  he  must  set 
his  price  high  enough  to  reimburse  himself 
within  a  reasonable  time.  The  author  will 
gain  in  receipts  from  royalties  on  a  high 
price  what  he  may  think  he  will  lose  in  the 
number  of  sales  had  his  book  been  issued  at 
a  more  popular  price.  For  instance,  com- 
pare the  royalties  on  1500  books  sold  in  six 
months  at  $1.50,  with  those  on  1000  copies 
sold  in  the  same  time  at  $2.50. 

When  the  market  for  the  high-priced  edi- 
tion has  been  exhausted,  if  there  is  enough 
interest  shown  in  the  book  to  warrant  the 
assumption  that  a  new  edition  at  a  lower 
price  will  be  taken  up  by  the  booksellers, 
the  publisher  may  be  relied  on  to  see  the 
advantage  of  the  cheaper  edition. 

Contracts  for  educational  text-books  vary 
in  their  terms  according  to  the  purpose  of  the 
work.  Owing  to  the  expense  of  obtaining 
their  adoption  or  use  in  schools  and  colleges, 


36        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

the  royalties  are  often  less  than  those  which 
a  publisher  can  afford  to  pay  on  some  other 
classes  of  literary  work,  but  if  they  become 
widely  used,  the  lower  royalty  is  counter- 
balanced by  the  large  sale. 

In  order  to  supplant  a  book  already  in 
use,  the  publisher  is  often  compelled  by  the 
school  authorities  to  exchange  new  books 
for  those  which  he  wishes  to  supplant.  The 
publisher  provides  for  this  costly  proceed- 
ing by  a  clause  in  his  contract  with  the 
author  stipulating  that  no  royalty  shall  be 
paid  on  books  thus  exchanged  if  less  than 
60  to  80  per  cent  (according  to  the  circum- 
stances) of  the  published  price  is  received  in 
cash  after  deducting  the  amount  charged  for 
the  supplanted  books  by  the  school  author- 
ities. 

In  publishing  books  for  the  common 
schools,  and  college  text-books,  the  meth- 
ods employed  and  the  forms  and  terms  of 
contracts  with  the  author  have  little  in 
common  with  those  employed  for  works  of 
general    literature.     School    and    text-book 


Agreements  and  Contracts  37 

royalties  are  sometimes  based  on  the  whole- 
sale net  price,  that  is  to  say,  the  retail  list 
price  less  a  discount  of  20  per  cent.  Thus, 
for  example,  6  per  cent  on  the  published 
price  is  equivalent  to  7!  per  cent  on  the 
net  price  of  a  book  to  be  used  in  the  common 
schools.  These  figures  are  given  merely  as 
an  illustration  of  a  practice  which  varies 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  work  and  the 
probable  extent  of  its  use. 


COVER   DESIGNS 

A  cover  should  be  appropriate  to  the  con- 
tents of  a  book.  The  covers  of  works  of  fic- 
tion and  general  literature  offer  a  wide  scope 
for  tasteful  decoration.  Works  of  philosophy, 
economics,  or  science  are  in  better  taste 
when  issued  with  a  simple  and  dignified  let- 
tering. Over-elaboration  is  to  be  deprecated, 
on  the  score  of  good  taste,  for  all  books. 

Those  colors  should  be  avoided  which 
fade  and  entail  a  loss  on  the  bookseller  who 
exposes  them  in  his  window  or  store. 

An  author  often  desires  a  cover  design  or 
a  binding  which  cannot  be  used  by  reason 
of  the  expense  which  it  would  entail.  Each 
color  is  laid  on  with  a  separate  brass  stamp 
and  by  a  separate  handling.  Expensive 
work  and  costly  fabrics  can  be  put  only  on 
expensive  books. 

The  three  qualities  to  be  desired  in  a 
binding  are  dignity,  beauty,  and  durability. 


HOW   A    PUBLISHER    MAY    BE 
HELPED  BY  AN  AUTHOR 

Sales  can  often  be  increased  if  an  author 
will  advise  the  publisher  where  and  how  a 
special  interest  in  his  book  may  be  aroused, 
and  if  he  will  suggest  special  methods  by 
which  their  common  interests  may  be  ad- 
vanced. 

As  soon  as  the  author  and  the  publisher 
are  agreed  as  to  the  terms  of  publication, 
the  author  should  provide  the  publisher 
with  a  concise  account  of  his  book  from  his 
own  point  of  view.  This  should  be  a  simple 
and  clear  statement  of  the  contents,  pur- 
pose, and  scope,  as  its  character  may  dic- 
tate. The  publisher  takes  these  facts  and 
weaves  them  into  his  announcements,  his 
preliminary  press  notices,  and  his  adver- 
tising. He  also  uses  them  for  the  informa- 
tion of  the  literary  editors  throughout  the 
country.     A  publisher  always  prepares  his 


40        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

own  description  of  a  book;  first,  because  it 
is  addressed  to  the  booksellers,  and  second, 
because  an  author's  own  account  is  rarely 
written  in  an  impersonal  way.  An  author's 
point  of  view  about  his  own  work  is,  how- 
ever, generally  essential  to  a  good  descrip- 
tion of  it. 

In  sending  out  presentation  copies  to  ed- 
itors and  others,  a  publisher  can  be  aided 
by  an  author,  who  should  provide  him  with 
the  names  of  journals  and  reviews  in  which, 
for  reasons  within  his  knowledge,  his  work 
is  likely  to  receive  particular  attention.  The 
names  of  professors  and  teachers  who  are 
likely  to  be  personally  interested  in  an  edu- 
cational work  are  also  of  service. 

Complimentary  copies  sent  to  an  author's 
influential  friends,  or  to  co-workers  in  his 
field  of  scholarship,  often  result  in  valuable 
reputation  for  the  book,  and  also  in  reviews. 

There  is  hardly  a  step  either  in  the  manu- 
facture or  in  the  publishing  of  a  book  in 
which  the  publisher  cannot  be  aided  by  the 
author. 


How  a  Publisher  May  be  Helped      41 

The  height,  the  thickness,  the  price,  the 
cover,  the  kind  of  paper,  etc.,  involve  many 
technical  commercial  questions,  and,  in  a 
large  measure,  must  be  left  to  the  publisher's 
good  judgment.  The  author's  wishes  are 
always  treated  with  due  respect,  and  a  frank 
and  friendly  talk  with  the  publisher  will 
decide  the  practical  answers  to  all  such 
questions. 


ADVERTISING    AND    DESCRIPTIVE 
CIRCULARS 

A  book  is  advertised  by  the  publisher  at 
his  own  expense,  unless  the  author  by  his 
contract  shares  the  cost  of  publication.  In 
either  case,  assistance  can  be  given  by  the 
author.  He  can  call  the  publisher's  atten- 
tion to  aspects  of  his  work  on  which  stress 
can  be  laid  in  advertising.  He  can  furnish 
paragraphs  of  literary  news  for  quotation 
in  circulars  or  in  news  notes  to  the  editors 
of  literary  columns  in  the  newspapers.  Lists 
of  the  members  of  societies  or  clubs  likely 
to  be  interested  in  the  book  or  in  the  author 
are  always  valuable  for  circulars. 

The  methods  of  displaying  advertise- 
ments in  the  newspapers  and  the  magazines 
vary  with  the  purpose  of  the  advertiser  and 
the  nature  of  the  books.  An  observant  per- 
son, who  makes  it  his  business  to  understand 
these   matters,   will  soon   see   whether  the 


Advertising  and  Descriptive  Circulars    43 

advertiser  is  trying  to  draw  attention  to 
his  firm  rather  than  to  his  books.  The  repu- 
tation for  extensive  advertising  is  gained 
easily  by  the  practice  of  selecting  one  or  two 
expensive  books  and  devoting  to  them  much 
space  in  the  daily  papers.  If  a  publisher, 
however,  wishes  to  use  his  advertising  in  the 
interest  of  all  the  authors  on  his  list,  he  will 
adopt  the  less  showy  and  more  effective 
plan  of  advertising  all  his  books,  giving 
each  its  place  in  the  display,  and  placing  the 
advertisement  in  the  best  papers  in  the 
country. 

This  kind  of  advertising,  backed  by  the 
proper  equipment  of  first-class  traveling 
salesmen  and  circulars,  is  the  more  just 
method.  Each  publisher  will  play  to  his 
own  hand,  and  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  in 
pursuing  either  method  he  is  regarding 
what  in  the  long  run  will  prove  most  ad- 
vantageous to  the  interests  common  to  him- 
self and  the  authors  whose  books  he  is 
trying  to  sell. 

An  author  may  understand  the  question 


44        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

more  clearly  by  remembering  that  an  inser- 
tion of  a  quarter  of  a  column  for  one  day  in 
almost  any  daily  paper  in  the  larger  cities 
costs  from  $10  to  $18.  That  space  in  ten 
such  papers  for  four  days  may  therefore  cost 
as  much  as  $700.  Space  in  the  monthly 
magazines  is  far  more  costly  than  in  the 
daily  papers. 

All  publishers  distribute  widely  their  an- 
nouncement lists  of  new  books,  their  special 
and  general  catalogues.  Skillful  use  of  this 
descriptive  material  is  one  of  the  most  effi- 
cient and  attractive  forms  of  advertising. 

The  best  form  of  advertising,  however,  is 
the  most  difficult  to  get.  It  is  that  which 
comes  from  mouth-to-mouth  recommenda- 
tion at  the  table,  in  the  drawing-room  or  the 
library.  In  the  long  run,  this  is  the  way  a 
really  valuable  book  wins  success  and  brings 
a  steady  income  to  both  author  and  pub- 
lisher. By  an  expensive  advertising  cam- 
paign, books  of  a  popular  nature,  even  if  of 
little  intrinsic  value,  may  be  forced  on  the 
attention  of  those  who  Snap  at  an  attractive 


Advertising  and  Descriptive  Circulars    45 

bait.  This  method  soon  shows  itself  in  its 
true  colors  as  another  form  of  gambling, 
which  entails  an  unwise  risk  of  capital.  It 
is  usually  applied  to  fiction  by  speculative 
publishers,  and  is  based  on  a  mistaken 
analogy  between  books  and  baking-pow- 
der. Such  a  practice  is  unfair  to  the  author 
not  so  favored.  Having  spent  money  freely 
in  this  form  of  speculative  advertising,  —  to 
say  nothing  of  equally  speculative  advance 
payments  of  royalties  not  yet  earned,  —  the 
publisher  must  of  necessity  concentrate  his 
efforts  on  books  so  advertised,  to  the  neglect 
of  those  on  which  he  has  invested  his  money 
in  a  sound  business  fashion. 


PRESS   COPIES 

In  sending  copies  to  the  press  at  his  own 
expense,  the  publisher  uses  his  judgment  as 
to  which  journals  will  give  the  best  reviews. 
His  aim  is  to  get  reviews  in  those  papers 
or  journals  which  are  read  by  the  largest 
number  of  people  who  are  specially  interested 
in  the  subject. 

An  author  can  promote  the  success  of  his 
work  by  sending  to  the  publisher  the  names 
of  reviewers  or  journals  likely  to  be  inter- 
ested in  it. 

One  important  point  to  be  remembered 
by  the  author  and  publisher  of  a  scholarly 
work  is  that  American  scholars  read  for- 
eign journals,  philosophical,  economic,  his- 
torical, scientific,  and  literary.  A  scholarly 
work,  therefore,  should  be  sent  to  the  best 
reviews  in  its  field,  in  Germany,  England, 
France,  and  Italy.  The  resulting  notices 
and  criticisms  will  have  their  due  effect  in 


Press  Copies  47 

sales  among  American  scholars.  The  returns 
from  the  countries  in  question  on  the  aver- 
age scholarly  work  are  often  likely  to  be  in 
reputation  rather  than  in  sales;  but  a  wise 
publisher  or  author  will  set  a  higher  value 
on  reputation  than  on  cash  in  such  a  case. 
Reputation  brings  unsolicited  manuscripts 
to  a  publisher's  desk,  and  is  one  very  potent 
cause  of  an  author's  future  prosperity. 


PROOF-READING 

A  specimen  page  should  be  sent  to  the 
author  by  the  publisher  to  show  the  pro- 
posed style  of  type,  the  size  of  the  printed 
page,  and  the  number  of  printed  pages 
which  the  manuscript  will  yield.  The  author 
should  return  this  specimen  at  once  with 
his  criticism. 

If  an  author  intends  to  make  many  cor- 
rections in  the  proof,  he  must  warn  the  pub- 
lisher to  send  him  his  proofs  in  "galley" 
form,  i.  e.  in  strips  not  yet  cut  off  into  page 
lengths.1 

Always  return  the  manuscript  with  each 
parcel  of  proofs.  When  the  work  is  com- 
pleted, the  manuscript  will  be  returned  to 
the  author  if  desired. 

If  the  author  wishes  to  read  revised  proof 
after  his  corrections  have  been  made  in  the 

1  A  galley  is  the  long  frame  on  which  the  compositor  places 
the  lines  as  he  sets  them  up  in  type. 


Proof- Reading  49 

first  proof,  he  should  so  advise  the  pub- 
lisher when  returning  the  first  proofs  cor- 
rected. If  the  author  wants  a  revised  proof 
of  only  one  or  two  pages,  or  of  a  chapter, 
it  can  be  had  for  the  asking. 

When  the  work  is  in  page  proof,  the  ad- 
dition of  a  phrase  or  of  a  sentence  may  make 
it  necessary  for  the  compositor  to  "over-run" 
each  line  on  the  page,  and  possibly  to  "over- 
run" several  pages.  While  the  correction 
thus  involves  but  a  few  words,  it  may  entail 
much  labor  on  the  printer,  and  a  consequent 
expense  to  the  author. 

It  is  generally  easy  for  the  author  to  make 
room  for  a  few  words  by  shortening  an 
adjoining  sentence,  or  by  taking  a  word  out 
here  and  there  from  the  neighboring  lines 
without  loss  to  the  sense. 

The  final  proofs  are  called  "foundry,"  or 
"plate"  proofs.  These  are  printed  from 
the  electrotyped  plates,  and  are  usually  dis- 
tinguished by  the  heavy  black  line  made 
by  the  "guards"  around  the  page.  If  the 
author   and   the    printer   have   done   their 


5<d        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

proof-reading  properly,  no  corrections  should 
be  needed  on  these  proofs.  Every  change 
in  "plate"  proof  entails  the  cutting  of  a 
hole  in  the  plate  and  the  soldering  in  of  a 
new  piece  of  metal,  —  an  expensive  process, 
and  injurious  to  the  plate. 

The  cost  of  the  author's  corrections  in 
proof  is  usually  apportioned  between  author 
and  publisher,  by  a  clause  in  the  contract 
which  stipulates  that,  if  the  cost  of  the  au- 
thor's corrections  shall  exceed  an  agreed 
percentage  of  the  full  cost  of  the  electro- 
plates, the  excess  shall  be  charged  to  the 
author.  A  fixed  sum  is  sometimes  allowed 
in  the  place  of  a  percentage. 

The  author  should  receive  proofs  in  du- 
plicate; one  to  be  returned  corrected  to  the 
publisher,  and  the  other  to  be  retained  by 
himself,  so  that  a  duplicate  set  of  corrections 
may  be  kept  on  hand  while  the  other  set  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  printer,  or  in  case  it  is 
lost  in  transit. 

The  printer  often  marks  "Qy"  on  the 
margin  of  the  proof  to  indicate  what  appears 


Proof- Reading  51 

to  him  to  be  an  inconsistency  or  a  misstate- 
ment, which  is  left  to  the  decision  of  the 
author.  Prompt  attention  must  be  paid  to 
such  queries,  and  corrections  made  as  early 
as  possible.  Final  proofs  are  read  as  care- 
fully, and  are  as  likely  to  contain  these  queries, 
as  the  earlier  proofs,  and  they  should  there- 
fore be  carefully  scrutinized. 

The  author  is  always  responsible  for  the 
making  of  the  index.  In  most  works  of  a 
permanent  value  there  should  be  a  good 
index,  and  it  should  be  prepared  from  the 
page  proofs  after  they  are  finally  corrected. 

Few  authors  know  how  to  make  a  good 
index  with  cross  references.  It  will,  there- 
fore, be  well  to  ask  the  publisher  to  engage 
an  expert  index-maker.  This  is  not  a  costly 
matter,  unless  the  index  is  very  full.  The 
value  of  a  good  book  is  greatly  enhanced 
by  a  first-class  index. 

The  cost  of  correcting  the  errors  of  the 
printers  will  not  be  charged  to  the  author, 
but  the  cost  of  corrections  made  by  the 
author  will  mount  up  more  quickly  than 


52         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

an  inexperienced  writer  would  suspect.  The 
best  economy  is  to  make  the  manuscript  as 
nearly  perfect  as  possible  before  it  is  sent 
to  the  printer.  Still,  with  the  most  skillful 
proof-reading,  the  author  may  wish  to  make 
a  change  even  in  the  plate,  and  the  cost  of 
a  necessary  correction  is  less  to  be  dreaded 
than  the  printing  of  an  imperfect  book. 
When  cuts  or  illustrations  are  to  be  inserted 
in  the  text,  the  author  should  receive  his 
proof  in  galley  strips.  This  will  enable  him 
to  attach  the  cuts  when  he  corrects  the  proof. 
Until  the  cuts  are  in  their  proper  positions 
in  the  galley  proof,  it  cannot  be  divided  into 
pages. 

The  author  should  receive  proofs  of  the 
illustrations.  If  they  are  text  cuts  and  are 
not  sent  with  the  proof  of  the  text,  the  author 
should  not  go  ahead  without  them,  but  should 
write  for  them  at  once.  The  proofs  of  the 
cuts  should  be  attached  to  their  proper 
places  on  the  galley  proof.  If  the  printer 
receives  galley  proofs  without  instructions 
as  to  the  placing  of  the  cuts,  he  may  make  up 


Proof-Reading  53 

the  matter  into  pages  without  leaving  spaces 
for  the  cuts.  This  will  entail  expensive 
changes,  as  compositors  are  paid  by  the 
hour  when  making  corrections.  The  pages 
in  such  a  case  will  have  to  be  made  over 
entirely. 

If  the  author  is  seriously  dissatisfied  with 
the  work  of  the  printer,  a  prompt  complaint 
to  the  publisher  is  the  quickest  way  to  clear 
up  a  misunderstanding,  and  to  save  expense. 

Tardiness  or  negligence  on  the  part  of  the 
printer  should  be  promptly  reported  to  the 
publisher. 


SIGNS    USED    IN    PROOF-READING 

&         Take  out;  delete. 

O         A  period. 

X,        A  broken  letter. 
ital.       Italics. 
AtcZf     Let  it  stand,  or,  It  is  correct  as  it  is. 

J,         Push   down  the   lead   which  is 
showing  with  the  type. 

9         Turn  the  letter  right  side  up. 

D         Indent  one  EM. 

II         Straighten  up  the  type  line  at  the 
side  of  the  page. 

^        A  hyphen. 

%        Take  out  the  letter  and  close  up. 

C       Take  out  the  space  and  close  up. 

^       Straighten  the  crooked  lines. 

I — i      Raise  the  word,  or  the  letter. 

i i      Lower  the  word,  or  the  letter. 

H_       Let  there  be  a  space. 
aJ&gux  atoti  Spread  the  words,  or  the  letters, 
farther  apart. 


Signs  used  in  Proof- Reading         55 

■(zoucC      Lead  or  widen  the  space  between 
the  lines  with    a  thin   metal 
strip. 
I  Push  it  to  the  left. 

=3        Push  it  to  the  right. 
^  Insert  an  apostrophe. 

Vt  y       Insert  quotation  marks. 

^         Insert  a  comma. 
A  &        Use  small  capitals. 
cafi       Use  a  capital. 
x.  c.       Use  the  lower  case  (small  type), 
i.  e.  not  capitals. 
11         Let  there  be  a  paragraph. 
•n^H       Run  on  without  a  paragraph. 
c&rCfrui      Put  in  the  middle  of  the  page,  or 

the  line. 
ov&iAxvn   Carry  over  to  the  next  line. 
A         Indicates  where  to  insert  a  letter 
or  phrase. 
w.£.      Wrong  font — size  or  style  of  type. 

&.       Transpose. 
flmt.     Kind  of  type. 
aottl.     Use  Roman  letter. 
$y.ch(f)  Doubt  as  to  spelling,  etc. 


56        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


N^VW>^\ 


WW  I 


Indicates  CAPITAL  letters. 
Indicates  small  capital  letters. 
Indicates  italic  letters. 
Indicates  black  type  letters. 
Indicates  BLACK  CAPITALS. 
Indicates  black  small  capitals. 
Indicates  black  italic. 
An  EM  dash.    Denotes  a  break. 
Points  or  asterisks.  Denote  words 

left  out. 
Denotes 


5 

point .... 

5* 

u 

6 

ti 

7 

n 

8 

t< 

9 

it 

10 

u 

11 

(1 

12 

ii 

14 

ii 

SIZES  OF  TYPE  GENERALLY  USED 
IN   BOOKS 

Pearl 

Agate 

Nonpareil 

Minion 

Brevier 

Bourgeois 

Long  Primer,  or  2-line  Pearl 

Small  Pica,  or  2-line  Agate 

Pica,  or  2-line  Nonpareil 

English,  or  2-line  Minion 

Columbian,  or  2-line 

Brevier 

Great    Primer,    or 

2-line  Bourgeois 

There  are  many  other  sizes  of  type,  but 
the  foregoing  are  practically  all  that  are  used 
in  general  book-making.  The  kind  of  type 
will  depend  on  the  printer's  stock  of  avail- 
able types  or  "fonts,"  or  on  his  and  the 
author's  taste. 


16 


18 


PROOF  WITH  CORRECTIONS 

AMERICAN  t/xATION.  t4X'f> 

I— I      Sir)/N  I  agree  with  the  honourable  gentleman  wh0  ^. 
stit       spoke  last,4ha»this  subject  is  not  new  in  this  House. 

,      Very  disagreeably  to  this  House,  veryunfortunately  ff? 
UQaJoaJ to  this    ^    ,  and  to  the  peace  ana  prosperity  of 

—  '  this  whole  empire,  x o  topic  has  been  more  familiar  £,C, 

GJ  w'tn  us-3 
fiOJf     CFor  nine   long  years,  session  after  session,  we 

s»  have  been  lashed  round  and  round  thiszmiserable  *-* 

circle  of  occasional  arguments  and  temporary  ex- 


pedients,   y  am_^ire  our  heads/mus^turn,  and  our 
%    stcmachs  nauseate  with  them.     We  hav£«had""rrTem 

in  every  shape  ;  we  have  \o4ked &e*gmzm  in  every  u:Jr, 
§}}&££    point.of^iew      Invention  is  exhausted ;   reason  is 


gr  fatigued ;    expenenrfce  has  given  judgment ;    but     ^ 
y?        obstinacy  is  not  yet  conquered./  Vhe  honourable     J 
07*    of  public   boncvolonoo   gentleman  has  made  one 
endeavour  more  to  diversify  the  form  of  this  dis-    « 
«y       gusting  argument^  He  has  thrown  out  a/  speech    ^ 

composed  almost  entirely  of  challenges.   jfliallenges  cqJ> 

d     ,     i^are  serious  things  ;  and  as  he  is  a  man  of  prudence 
U&&'  /as  well  as  resolution,  I  daresay  he  has  very  well 

weighed  those  challenges  before  he  delivered  them.  win* 
I  had  long  the  happiness  to  sit/the\at|same  side  of    ?£ 
/&     the  House/yand  to  agree  with  the  honourable  gentle- 
st,/   man  ^  all  the  American  questions.  CZ.  My  senti-  *—■ 

t&LC  (Speech    on    American    Taxation  by    Edmund   Burke.    Re^V 

printed,    by    permission    of    Houghton,   Mifflin   &    Company,      SiC* 
>tt"        from/The  Riverside  Literature  Series..    -  ,,„      \  / 


CORRECTED  PROOF 

AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

Sir,  —  I  agree  with  the  honourable  gentleman  who 
spoke  last,  that  this  subject  is  not  new  in  this  House. 
Very  disagreeably  to  this  House,  very  unfortunately 
to  this  nation,  and  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of 
this  whole  empire,  no  topic  has  been  more  familiar 
with  us.  For  nine  long  years,  session  after  session, 
we  have  been  lashed  round  and  round  this  misera- 
ble circle  of  occasional  arguments  and  temporary 
expedients.  I  am  sure  our  heads  must  turn,  and 
our  stomachs  nauseate  with  them.  We  have  had 
them  in  every  shape ;  we  have  looked  at  them  in 
every  point  of  view.  Invention  is  exhausted  ;  rea- 
son is  fatigued ;  experience  has  given  judgment ; 
but  obstinacy  is  not  yet  conquered. 

The  honourable  gentleman  has  made  one  en- 
deavour more  to  diversify  the  form  of  this  dis- 
gusting argument.  He  has  thrown  out  a  speech 
composed  almost  entirely  of  challenges.  Challenges 
are  serious  things;  and  as  he  is  a  man  of  prudence 
as  well  as  resolution,  I  daresay  he  has  very  well 
weighed  those  challenges  before  he  delivered  them. 
I  had  long  the  happiness  to  sit  at  the  same  side  of 
the  House,  and  to  agree  with  the  honourable  gentle- 
man on  all  the  American  questions.    My  sentiment 

(Speech  on  American  Taxation  by  Edmund  Burke.  Re- 
printed, by  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company, 
from  "The  Riverside  Literature  Series.") 


AMERICAN  RULES  FOR  SPELLING 
AND    PUNCTUATION,    ETC.1 

Spelling  and  punctuation  are  dealt  with 
in  the  following  section,  which  is  reprinted 
from  the  excellent  pamphlet  prepared  for 
the  use  of  their  compositors  by  Messrs. 
J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.,  the  well-known  printers 
of  Norwood,  Mass.  Printers  will  carry  out 
an  author's  explicit  instructions  as  to  spelling 
and  punctuation.  Office  rules  are  followed 
in  the  absence  of  special  instructions.  Print- 
ers differ  over  a  few  points ;  but  in  the  main 
the  following  rules  apply  also  to  the  practice 
of  The  Riverside  Press,  The  University  Press, 
The  Athenaeum  Press,  of  Cambridge,  Mass. ; 
The  Merrymount  Press,  of  Boston;  The 
Knickerbocker  Press,  The  De  Vinne  Press, 
The  Trow  Press,  of  New  York ;  and,  indeed, 
of  any  well-managed  printing  house. 

1  If  an  author  wishes  his  book  to  be  sold  to  English  as  well 
as  to  American  readers,  a  sagacious  publisher  will  advise  him 
to  use  the  "u"  in  spelling  the  words  "honour,"  "colour,"  etc., 
and  to  avoid  "spelling  reform"  fads.  The  English  are  entitled 
to  their  prejudices. 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.    61 

Notice  as  to  preference  in  spelling  and 
punctuation,  etc.,  should  be  clearly  stated 
on  the  manuscript,  or  given  to  the  pub- 
lishers before  the  work  is  sent  to  the  printers. 

CONTENTS  OF  THIS  SECTION 

Spellings  preferred  by  both  Worcester  and  Webster  .  62 

Spellings  on  which  dictionaries  differ 63 

English  and  American  practice  in  spelling     ...  67 

Preferences  in  spelling  miscellaneous  words     ...  68 

Compounds       69 

Adverbs         71 

Division  of  words 71 

Capitals 72 

Punctuation 7^ 

Miscellaneous  points  of  style 78 

Numbers .80 

Spacing        81 

O  and  Oh 81 

Spelling  of  the  Century  and  Standard  Dictionaries  82 


62        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


i.   The  following  spellings  are  preferred 
by  both  Worcester  and  Webster :  — 


abridgment 

disk 

intrust 

aesthetic 

drought 

lackey 

bazaar 

dryly 

manikin 

behoove 

embarkation 

mediaeval 

1  benefited,  -ing 

embed 

mollusk 

blond  (adj.) 

empale 

mustache 

blonde  (n.) 

filigree 

naught 

bouquet 

gayety 

paralleled,  -ing 

brier 

gayly 

poniard 

caliber 

glamour 

postilion 

calk 

good-by 

programme 

caravansary 

gossiped,  -ing 

pygmy 

carcass 

gypsy 

raccoon 

check 

halyard 

reenforce 

checkered 

humbugged,  -ing 

1  riveted,  -ing 

clew 

incase 

sandbagged,  -in 

Combated,  -ing 

incrust 

shyly 

corselet 

indorse 

slyly 

cotillon 

infold 

sobriquet 

criticise 

ingrain 

stanch 

crystallize 

ingulf 

story  (a  floor) 

demarcation 

inquire 

thraldom 

dike  (except  in 

insure 

veranda 

geological 

inthrall 

visor 

meaning) 

intrench 

zigzagged,  -ing 

1  There  is  nothing  irregular  in  these  forms,  which  are  given 
because  frequently  misspelled.  Compare  fidgeted,  inhabited, 
and  profited.  But  similar  verbs,  when  accented  on  the  final 
syllable,  double  the  consonant,  according  to  both  dictionaries, 
—  e.g.  admit,  admitted,  admitting;  permit,  permitted,  permitting  ; 
regret,  regretted,  regretting. 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     63 

2.  The  dictionaries  differ  on  the  follow- 
ing words :  — 


Worcester 

accoutre 

aide-de-camp 

amphitheatre 
1  apparelled 

axe 

ay  (yes) 
1  biassed 

boulder 
1  carolled 

centre 

chiccory 

cimeter 

cosey,  cosily 

councillor 

counsellor 
1  crenellated 

cyclopaedia 

defence 

despatch 


Webster 
accouter 
aid-de-camp 
amphitheater 
appareled 
ax 
aye 
biased 
bowlder 
caroled 
center 
chicory 
scimeter 
cozy,  cozily 
councilor 
counselor 
crenelated 
cyclopedia 
defense 
dispatch 


1  The  past  tense  is  here  given  for  illustration,  but  it  is  of 
course  understood  that  the  present  participle  is  formed  on 
the  same  principle,  e.g.  apparelling, appareling  ;  tranquillizing, 
tranquilizing;  worshipping,  worshiping.  This  list  contains 
only  a  few  of  the  more  common  verbs  of  the  class  ending  in  al, 
el,  il,  and  ol,  but  enough  to  show  the  principle  on  which  the  two 
dictionaries  work  in  forming  their  past  tense  and  participle. 
Verbs  of  this  class  accented  on  the  final  syllable  have  the  same 
form  in  both  Worcester  and  Webster,  —  e.g.  impel,  impelled, 
impelling  ;   propel,  propelled,  propelling  ;   etc. 


64        A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 


Worcester 

Webster 

1  dishevelled 

disheveled 

distil 

distill 

2  dominos  (a  game) 

dominoes 

dulness 

dullness 

enamour 

enamor 

enclose 

inclose 

encumbrance 

incumbrance 

enrolment 

enrollment 

ensnare 

insnare 

1  equalled 

equaled 

fetich 

fetish 

fibre 

fiber 

fledgling 

fledgeling 

1  focussed 

focused 

2  frescos 

frescoes 

fulfil 

fulfill 

fulness 

fullness 

gramme 

gram 

2  grottos 

grottoes 

1  See  note  1,  page  63. 

2  The  rule  for  nouns  ending  in  0  is  :  If  the  singular  ends  in 
0  preceded  by  another  vowel,  the  plural  is  formed  regularly  by 
adding  s,  —  e.g.  bamboo,  bamboos  ;  cameo,  cameos  ;  embryo, 
embryos;  folio,  folios.  If  in  0  preceded  by  a  consonant,  by  add- 
ing es,  —  e.g.  buffalo,  buffaloes  ;  desperado,  desperadoes  ;  echo, 
echoes  ;  hero,  heroes ;  mosquito,  mosquitoes  ;  motto,  mottoes  ; 
potato,  potatoes.    But  the  following  exceptions  add  s  only  :  — 


albino 

duodecimo 

piano 

sirocco 

canto 

halo 

proviso 

solo 

cento 

lasso 

quarto 

stiletto 

domino  (when 

memento 

rotundo 

torso 

not  the  game 

octavo 

salvo 

tyro 

American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.    65 

Worcester  Webster 


guerilla 

guerrilla 

1  imperilled 

imperiled 

instalment 

installment 

instil 

instill 

jewellery 

jewelry 

1  kidnapped 

kidnaped 

1  libelled 

libeled 

litre 

liter. 

lodgement 

lodgment 

lustre 

luster 

manoeuvre 

maneuver 

marvellous 

marvelous 

maugre 

mauger 

meagre 

meager 

metre 

meter 

millionnaire 

millionaire 

mitre 

miter 

1  modelled 

modeled 

mould,  -ing 

mold,  -ing 

nitre 

niter 

ochre 

ocher 

oesophagus 

esophagus 

offence 

offense 

pacha 

pasha 

pedler 

peddler 

phcenix 

phenix 

plough 

plow 

2  porticos 

porticoes 

practise  (v.) 

practice  (v.) 

pretence 

pretense 

1  See  note  i,  page  63. 

2  See  note  2,  page  64, 

66        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


Worcester 

Webster 

1  quarrelled 

quarreled 

reconnoitre 

reconnoiter 

revery 

reverie 

1  rivalled 

rivaled 

sabre 

saber 

saltpetre 

saltpeter 

saviour 

savior 

sceptic 

skeptic 

sceptre 

scepter 

sepulchre 

sepulcher 

Shakespearian 

Shakespearean 

1  shrivelled 

shriveled 

skilful 

skillful 

smoulder 

smolder 

sombre 

somber 

spectre 

specter 

1  sulphuretted 

sulphureted 

syrup 

sirup 

theatre 

theater 

1  tranquillize 

tranquilize 

1  travelled,  -er 

traveled,  -er 

vice  (a  tool) 

vise 

villanous,  -y 

villainous,  -y 

whiskey 

whisky 

wilful 

willful 

woful 

woeful 

woollen 

woolen 

1  worshipped,  -er 

worshiped,  -er 

1  See  note  i,  page  63. 

2  See  note  2,  page  64, 

American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.    67 

3.  English  Spelling.  —  In  the  English 
style  of  spelling,  many  words  which  in  Amer- 
ican dictionaries  end  in  or,  end  in  our.  Words 
thus  ending  in  our  are :  — 


arbour 

favour 

parlour 

ardour 

fervour 

rancour 

armour 

flavour 

rigour 

behaviour 

harbour 

rumour 

candour 

honour 

savour 

clamour 

humour 

splendour 

clangour 

invigour 

succour 

colour 

labour 

tabour 

demeanour 

misbehaviour 

tumour 

discolour 

misdemeanour 

valour 

dolour 

neighbour 

vapour 

endeavour 

odour 

vigour 

Note  that  discoloration,  invigorate,  invig- 
oration,  pallor,  and  tremor  do  not  take  the  u. 

When  an  adjective  is  formed  from  any  of 
the  above  words  by  adding  ous,  the  ending 
of  the  original  word  is  simply  or,  as  in  Ameri- 
can dictionaries,  —  e.g.  clamorous,  dolorous, 
humorous,  laborious. 

While  the  our-words  are  always  found  in 
English  spelling,  it  is  only  occasionally  that 
English  books  follow  the  style  which  changes 


68         A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 

verbs  ending,  in  American  dictionaries,  in  ize 
to  ise, —  e.g.  civilise,  realise,  utilise.  When 
this  style  is  used,  note  that  baptize  always 
retains  the  z  spelling. 

Distinctively  English  spellings  (sometimes 
used  and  sometimes  not)  are  the  forms 
anyone,  everyone,  someone,  and  jor  ever,  and 
the  following :  — 


behove 

gaily 

reflexion 

briar 

gipsy 

shily 

connexion 

inflexion 

slily 

drily 

judgement 

staunch 

enquire 

lacquey 

storey  (a  floor) 

entrust 

pigmy 

verandah 

gaiety 

postillion 

For  words  which  have  more  than  one 
spelling  in  American  dictionaries  —  e.g.  cen- 
tre, counsellor  —  use  Worcester.  Compos- 
itors should  ascertain  to  what  extent  the 
English  style  is  to  be  followed  on  copy  given 
out  as  taking  the  English  spelling.  The  two 
important  points  to  be  borne  in  mind  are 
the  our-  and  ise-words. 

4.  Miscellaneous  Words.  —  Give  prefer- 
ence to  the  following  forms :  — 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.    69 


byways 

highroad 

subject-matter 

courtyard 

knickknack 

text-book 

downstairs 

long-suffering 

thoroughgoing 

employee 

lookout 

upstairs 

everyday 

newcomer 

well-nigh 

halfway 

nowadays 

widespread 

headquarters 

shan't 

By  and  by  and  by  the  bye  are  the  right 
forms.  Vender  is  ordinary  usage,  vendor  the 
form  used  in  law.  Good  day,  good  night, 
two  words  always. 

COMPOUNDS 
Follow   the   style   given   below   on   com- 
pounds :  — 

Co,  pre,  and  re.  —  With  words  beginning  with  the 
same  vowel:  cooperate,  preempt,  reembark,  etc.;  with  a 
consonant  or  different  vowel:  colaborer,  preoccupy, 
reconstruct,  etc.;  but  where  a  word  having  a  different 
meaning  from  that  desired  would  be  formed :  re-creation, 
re-collect,  etc. 

Colors.  —  Adjectives  in  ish :  bluish  red,  yellowish 
green,  etc.;  but  a  noun  compounded  with  a  color: 
emerald-green,  iron-gray,  ivory-black,  pearl-gray,  etc. 

Ever. — Ever  changing  sea,  ever  memorable  scene,  ever 
watchful  eye,  forever  emptied  cradle,  never  ending  talk, 
etc. 

Fellow.  — Fellow-citizens,  fellow-men,  fellow- soldiers, 
etc.   Fellowship  is  the  sole  exception. 


70        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Fold.  — Words  of  one  syllable:  twofold,  tenfold,  etc.; 
of  more  than  one:   twenty  fold,  hundred  fold,  etc. 

Half.  —  With  adjectives:  half -dead  man,  etc.  (but  I 
was  half  dead  with  shame)  ;  with  verbs:  half  conceal, 
half  understand,  etc.;   also  half  a  dozen,  half  an  hour. 

Like.  —  Businesslike,  childlike,  warlike,  etc.,  except 
ball-like,  bell-like,  etc.,  and  very  unusual  compounds: 
miniature-like,  Mohammedan-like,  etc. 

Over  and  Under.  —  With  verbs  and  adjectives,  one 
word :   overbold,  overestimate,  overreach,  underdressed. 

Party.  —  Party-coated,  party-colored  (and  use  this 
spelling). 

Points  of  the  Compass.  —  Northeast,  southwest; 
north-northeast,  west-southwest,  etc. 

Room. —  Breakfast  room,  dining  room,  sleeping  room, 
etc.;  *  but  bedroom  and  drawing-room. 

School.  —  Schoolboy,  schoolfellow,  schoolgirl,  school- 
house,  schoolmaster,  schoolmistress,  schoolroom;  school 
board,  school  children,  school  committee,  school  days, 
school  district;  school-ship,  school-teacher,  school-teaching. 

Self.  —  Self-absorbed,  self-contempt,  self-respect,  etc. ; 
but  selfsame. 

Skin.  —  Words  of  one  syllable :  calfskin,  goatskin, 
etc.;  of  more  than  one:  beaver  skin,  buffalo  skin,  etc. 

Tree.  —  Always  two  words :  apple  tree,  forest  tree, 
fruit  tree,  etc. 

An  adverb  and  a  participial  adjective  or 
a  participle  before  a  noun:  prettily  dressed 
girl,  rapidly  approaching  winter,  etc. 

1  Some  printers  hyphenate  these. 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     71 

Anyway,   Nowise,  Awhile,  Meanwhile,  and 
Meantime 

Distinguish  between  the  adverb  anyway 
and  the  phrase  in  any  way,  nowise  and  in  no 
wise,  and  awhile  and  for  a  while.  Always 
make  meantime  and  meanwhile  one  word: 
meantime,  in  the  meantime,  meanwhile,  and 
in  the  meanwhile. 

DIVISION   OF  WORDS 

Divide  when  possible,  and  when  it  is  a 
correct  division,  on  the  vowel:  proposition, 
not  prop-osition. 

Avoid  two-letter  divisions  where  possible. 

Avoid  making  the  last  line  of  a  paragraph 
part  of  a  divided  word. 

In  present  participles  carry  over  the  ing: 
divid-ing,  mak-ing,  forc-ing,  charg-ing  (but 
iwin-kling,  chuc-kling,  dan-cing,  etc.). 

Divide:  derision,  division,  provision, 
reli-gion,  etc. 

Divide:  fea-ture,  for-tune,  pic-ture,  pre- 
sump-tuous,  etc. 

Divide  in  all  cases  espe-cial,  inhabit-ant, 


72         A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 

pecul-iar,  pro-cess,  know-ledge,  atmos-phere, 
and  hemi-  sphere. 

Observe  the  following  divisions:  Wor. 
brill-iant,  Web.  bril-liant;  Wor.  jamil-i- 
arity,  Web.  famil-iar-ity;  Wor.  mill-ion, 
Web.  mil-lion;  Wor.  pecu-li-arity,  Web. 
pecul-iar-ity ;  Wor.  press-ure,  Web.  />m- 
swre;  Wor.  Ind-ian,  Web.  In-dian;  Wor. 
Will-iam,  Web.  Wil-liam. 

CAPITALS 

Constitution  of  the  United  States  should 
always  be  capitalized. 

Czar,  etc.  —  Capitalize  Czar,  Pope,  Presi- 
dent (of  United  States),  Sultan  (of  Turkey), 
Dauphin,  Bey  (of  Tunis),  Khedive  (of 
Egypt). 

Day.  —  Capitalize  Thanksgiving  Day, 
New  Year's  Day,  Lord's  Day,  Founder's 
Day,  Commencement  Day,  etc. 

De,  Von,  etc.  —  Capitalize  names  from 
foreign  languages  preceded  by  a  preposition, 
when  used  without  a  title  or  a  Christian 
name:    De  La  Fayette,   De'   Medici,   Der 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     73 

Hougassoff,  Von  Stein;  but  Marquis  de  La 
Fayette,  Catherine  de'  Medici,  General  der 
Hougassoff,  Baron  von  Stein. 

Headings.  —  In  chapter  headings,  side 
headings,  names  of  books,  etc.,  set  in  capi- 
tals and  small  capitals,  or  upper  and  lower 
case,  capitalize  nouns  and  adjectives  only. 
As  You  Like  It,  Love's  Labor  's  Lost,  and 
similar  titles  are  exceptions. 

Heaven.  —  Capitalize  Heaven  when  it 
stands  for  the  Deity;  as  a  place,  lower  case. 
Hell  and  paradise  always  lower  case. 

He,  His,  etc.  —  Capitalize  He,  His,  Him, 
Thou,  etc.,  referring  to  members  of  the  Trin- 
ity (except  in  extracts  from  the  Bible). 

His  Majesty,  etc.  —  Capitalize  all  except 
the  pronoun  in  his  Majesty,  their  Royal 
Highnesses,  your  Excellency,  his  Lordship, 
etc. 

House.  —  Lower  case  house  0}  Hanover, 
house  0}  Suabia,  etc. 

King,  etc.  —  Capitalize  King  John,  Bishop 
0}  Rheims,  Duke  0}  York,  Emperor  of  Aus- 
tria, etc.;   but  lower  case  king  of  England, 


74         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

queen  oj  Sweden,  prince  of  France,  etc.  (ex- 
cept the  Prince  of  Orange  and  Prince  oj 
Wales,  and  other  mere  titles  with  Prince). 

Middle  Ages  should  be  capitalized. 

Mountains.  —  Appalachian  Mountains, 
White  Mountains,  etc. 

New  World,  Old  World,  New  York  City, 
New  York  State,  Papacy  (but  lower  case 
papal),  Oriental,  and  Occidental  should  be 
capitalized. 

River,  Lake,  War,  Valley,  battle  of,  peace 
of,  treaty  of,  etc.  —  Capitalize  in  cases  like 
Hudson  River,  Crystal  Lake,  Seven  Years'1 
War,  Connecticut  Valley,  etc.;  but  note  the 
plurals:  Hudson  and  Mohawk  rivers,  the 
Seven  Years'  and  the  Hundred  Years1  wars, 
although  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan.  Lower 
case  the  river  Charles,  etc.,  and  battle  oj 
Waterloo,  treaty  oj  Luneville,  peace  oj 
Amiens,  etc. 

State,  etc.  —  Lower  case  state  (except 
New  York  State),  commonwealth,  and  terri- 
tory (except  Indian  Territory,  Northwest 
Territory).     Note  Southern  states,  Eastern 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     75 

states,  etc.  But  capitalize  State  meaning  the 
government,  as  well  as  Church  standing  for 
the  ecclesiastical  authority  or  influence. 

Titles  used  in  direct  address  should  be 
capitalized.1 

PUNCTUATION 

Said  he,  quietly,  etc.  — Correct  style:  Said 
he,  quietly  (but  he  said  quietly);  said  he, 
laughing;  and  he  said,  laughing. 

Comma  in  Series.  —  Correct  style :  George, 
John,  and  James  are  here;  handsome,  rich,  but 
unhappy;  he  could  not  read,  write,  or  figure. 
But  this  style  does  not  apply  to  United  States 
Law. 

Comma  before  Quotation.  —  Before  a  quo- 
tation in  a  paragraph,  if  of  one  sentence  use 
a  comma,  if  of  more  than  one  use  a  colon. 

As  follows.  —  At  the  end  of  a  paragraph, 
after  phrases  like  as  follows,  the  following, 
thus,  and  namely,  and  words  like  said, 
remarked,  etc.,  use  the  colon  and  dash 
(except  in  mathematical  work). 

1  The  above  rules  for  capitalizing  are  not  followed  by  all 
printers. 


76         A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 

Comma  and  Semicolon.  —  In  sentences 
containing  two  sets  of  subjects  and  predi- 
cates —  in  other  words,  two  clauses  —  con- 
nected by  and,  but,  or  some  similar  conjunc- 
tion, the  clauses  should  be  separated  by  at 
least  a  comma;  and  if  either  clause  is  very 
long  or  contains  a  subordinate  clause,  use 
a  semicolon.  The  foregoing  sentence  illus- 
trates the  use  of  the  semicolon. 

Quotation  Marks. — In  sentences  terminat- 
ing in  the  close  of  a  quotation  and  an  excla- 
mation point  or  an  interrogation  point,  do 
not  quote  the  punctuation  unless  it  is  part  of 
the  quotation :  — 

How  absurd  to  call  this  stripling  a  "man"l 
but        He  cried  out,   "Wake  up,  something  is  going 
wrong!  " 

In  the  case  of  a  semicolon  and  the  close  of 
a  quotation,  if  the  quoted  matter  consists  of 
one  or  two  words  or  a  mere  phrase,  do  not 
quote  the  semicolon;  but  if  a  complete  sub- 
ject and  predicate  is  included  within  the 
quotation  marks,  some  printers  quote  the 
semicolon  too :  — 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     77 

The  punctuation  of  "Tristram  Shandy"  will  naturally 
differ  from  that  of  the  "  Rambler";  and  in  a  less  degree 
the  punctuation  in  Burke,  etc. 

Sir  Walter  said  to  him,  "My  friend,  give  me  your 
hand,  for  mine  is  that  of  a  beggar;"  for,  in  truth,  the 
house,  etc. 

If  the  style  of  a  book  is  to  quote  verse, 
letters,  and  other  extracts,  in  poetry  a  new 
quote  should  begin  on  every  new  stanza,  in 
prose  on  every  paragraph  and  break-line. 
But  in  extracts  from  plays,  place  a  quotation 
mark  before  the  first  word  only  of  the  ex- 
tract, and  end  after  the  last  word.  The  proper 
form  for  quotes  at  the  beginning  and  end  of 
a  letter  is  as  follows : 1  — 

"6  Scrope  Terrace,  Cambridge, 
"June  20,  1898. 

"Dear  Sir:  With  reference  to  the  Vortexatom 
Theory,  I  would  *  *  *  concerned  is  very 
complex. 

"Believe  me 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"J.  J.  Thomson. 
"Professor  S.  W.  Holman." 

1  Some  printers  never  quote  complete  documents. 


78        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

MISCELLANEOUS   POINTS  OF  STYLE 

2d,  Jd,  not  2nd,  3rd. 

Forward,  toward,  etc.,  not  forwards,  to- 
wards, etc. 

Ms.  and  Mss.  should  be  caps,  and  small 
caps. :  Ms.,  Mss.  [Some  prefer  caps. :  MS., 
MSS.] 

B.  C.  and  A.  D.  —  Date  before  the  letters, 
and  letters  in  small  caps. :  14  B.  c,  28  A.  d. 

A.  M.  and  P.  M.  (for  ante  meridiem  and 
post  meridiem)  in  small  caps. :  a.  m.,  p.  m. 

$  and  £  should  always  be  close  up  to  the 
number  with  which  they  belong,  except  in 
mathematical  work. 

Henrys,  Jerseys,  Mussulmans,  and  the 
Two  Sicilies  are  the  correct  plurals. 

An  abbreviation — e.g.,  Fig.,  § — or  a  num- 
ber should  not  begin  a  sentence.  Always 
spell  out. 

Spell  out  titles  like  Colonel,  General,  and 
Professor  (except  in  lists  of  names,  cata- 
logues, etc.);  but  Dr.,  Hon.,  Mr.,  Mrs., 
Messrs.,  and  Rev.,  occurring  before  a  name, 
are  proper  abbreviations. 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     79 

E.g.,  i.e.,  I.e.,  and  s.v.  should  always  be 
Italic  when  placed  between,  after,  or  before 
words  in  Roman,  take  no  comma,  and  should 
be  close  up  together.  In  Italic  sentences 
they  should  be  Roman.  Cf.,  sc,  and  viz. 
should  always  be  Roman. 

Possessive  Case.  —  To  form  the  possess- 
ive singular  add  the  apostrophe  and  s: 
Keats's,  countess's;  except  in  the  phrases  for 
conscience'  sake,  for  goodness'  sake,  for  right- 
eousness' sake,  etc.,  and  in  the  case  of  a  few 
words  like  Jesus,  Moses,  Achilles,  Hercules, 
and  Xerxes. 

Farther  and  Further.— Farther  is  applied 
to  distance,  —  e.g.  thus  far  and  no  farther, 
farther  up  the  hill;  further  signifies  "  ad- 
ditional," —  e.g.  I  have  no  further  use  for 
you,  Further  consideration  of  the  matter. 

Books,  Magazines,  Ships,  etc.  —  Names 
of  books,  plays,  and  paintings  should  be 
Roman  and  quoted,  of  magazines  and  pa- 
pers Italic,1  and  of  characters  in  books,  plays, 
etc.,  plain  Roman  without  quotes.    (But  in 

1  De  italicis  quot  homines  tot  sententiae.  —  W.  S.  B. 


80         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

footnotes  and  side- notes  books  may  go  in 
Italic.)  In  general,  poems  should  be  Roman 
and  quoted.  Names  of  articles  in  maga- 
zines or  cyclopaedias  should  be  Roman  and 
quoted.  Names  of  ships  set  in  Italic.  In  cita- 
tion of  papers  and  magazines,  do  not  treat 
the  definite  article  the  as  part  of  the  name,  — 
e.g.  the  Century,  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean, 
the  New  York  Herald. 

Numbers.  —  Spell  out  all  numbers  of  less 
than  three  figures,  and  all  round  numbers. 
Numbers  of  three  or  more  figures  set  in  fig- 
ures. By  round  numbers  are  meant  hun- 
dreds, thousands,  etc.,  and  all  multiples  of 
hundreds,  thousands,  etc.  (When  numbers 
occur  in  great  frequency  in  a  single  para- 
graph or  chapter,  all  numbers  should  be  set 
in  figures.  Round  numbers  should  also  be  set 
in  figures  when  coming  in  close  contrast  with 
numbers  not  round.  In  United  States  Law 
and  legal  works  in  general,  inquiry  should 
be  made  as  to  the  style  to  be  followed.) 
Cases  like  2300  should  be  spelled  twenty-three 
hundred,  not  two  thousand   three  hundred. 


American  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     81 

The  comma  should  be  used  only  in  numbers 
of  five  or  more  figures:    5560,  but  55,670. 

Spacing.  —  En  quads  should  be  used  to 
space  the  last  line  of  a  paragraph  only  when 
the  lines  above  and  below  are  wide  spaced. 
Otherwise  the  ordinary  3-em  spaces  should 
be  used. 

Always  put  a  thin  space  after  Italic/where 
it  ends  a  line  and  before  Italic/,/,  and  p  at 
the  beginning  of  lines,  and  before  or  after 
such  other  letters  as  would  suffer  mutilation 
without  such  spacing.  Roman/ in  Caslon  in 
especial  requires  this  thin  space  after  it,  as 
well  as  in  some  other  old-style  types,  but  none 
of  the  Roman  modern-faced  types  need  it. 

"0"  and  "Oh" 

O  is  an  expression  used  (a)  in  directly 
addressing  a  person  or  a  personified  object; 
(b)  in  uttering  a  wish;  and  (c)  to  express 
surprise,  indignation,  or  regret,  when  it  is 
frequently  followed  by  an  ellipsis  and  that  : 

a.  O  Lord,  have  mercy  on  us! 

Break  on  thy  cold  gray  stones,  O  sea! 


82         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

b.  O  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove! 
O  for  rest  and  peace! 

c.  O  [It  is  sad]  that  such  eyes  should  e'er  meet  other 

object  i 

O  is  also  used  in  the  expressions  O  dear 
and  O  dear  me. 

Oh  is  used  (a)  as  an  interjection,  and  (b)  as 
the  colloquial  introduction  to  a  sentence :  — 

a.  Oh!  my  offence  is  rank. 
Oh,  how  could  you  do  it? 

b.  Oh,  John,  will  you  close  the  door? 
Oh,  yes,  with  pleasure. 

Century  and  Standard  Dictionaries.  —  The 

following  lists  are  appended  solely  for  refer- 
ence purposes.  The  spellings  they  contain  are 
not  to  be  regarded  as  authority  except  for 
work  on  which  special  instructions  have  been 
given  to  follow  the  Century  or  the  Standard 
Dictionary.  Both  of  these  dictionaries  use 
the  er-ending  in  words  like  caliber,  fiber,  and 
theater,  except  accoutre  in  the  Century  and 
maugre  in  both  Century  and  Standard ;  both 
form  the  past  tense  and  the  participle  in 
cases  like  appareled,  appareling,  biased, 
biasing,  and  worshiped,  worshiping,  after  the 


A  merican  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     83 

model  of  Webster  (see  p.  63,  §  2,  above), 
with  the  exception  of  kidnapped,  kidnapping, 
in  the  Century;  and  both  use  the  5-spelling  in 
the  words  defense,  offense,  and  pretense.  It  is 
not  considered  necessary  after  this  statement 
to  include  these  classes  of  words  below. 

Both  Century  and  Standard  prefer  the  fol- 
lowing spellings:  — 


abridgment 

cozy 

esophagus 

inquire 

ax 

crenelated 

esthetic 

instalment 

aye  (yes) 

criticize 

fetish 

instil 

bazaar 

cyclopedia 

filigree 

insure 

behoove 

demarcation 

fledgling 

jewelry 

blond  (adj. 

despatch 

frescos 

lackey 

and  ».) 

dieresis 

fulfil 

lodgment 

boulder 

dike 

gaiety 

manikin 

bouquet 

disk 

gaily 

marvelous 

brier 

distil 

gipsy 

medieval 

calk 

dominoes  (a 

glamour 

millionaire 

caravansary 

game) 

good-by 

mold 

carcass 

drought 

gram 

mollusk 

check 

dryly 

grottoes 

mustache 

checkered 

embarkation 

guerrilla 

naught 

chicory 

embed 

halyard 

pasha 

clue 

encumbrance 

incase 

phenix 

corselet 

engulf 

incrust 

plow 

cotillion 

enroll 

indorse 

poniard 

councilor 

enrolment 

infold 

postilion 

counselor 

enthrall 

ingrain 

program 

84         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


pygmy 
reverie 
savior  (one  who 

saves) 
Saviour  (Christ) 
shyly 
simitar 
skeptic 
skilful 


slyly 

smolder 

sobriquet 

stanch 

story  (a  floor) 

Tatar  (a  native  of 

Tatary) 
thraldom 
tranquilize 


veranda 
villainous,  -y 
vise  (a  tool) 
vizor 
whisky 
wilful 
woolen 
zigzagged,  -ing 


The  Century  prefers  the  following:  — 


accoutre 

aide-de-camp 

dullness 

enamour 

envelop  (n.) 

fullness 

inclose 


insnare 

intrench 

intrust 

kidnapped,  -ing 

manceuver 

peddler 

porticos 


practice  (n.) 

practise  (v.) 

racoon 

reinforce 

syrup 

woeful 


The  Standard  prefers  the  following:  — 


aid-de-camp 

dulness 

empale 

enamor 

enclose 

ensnare 


entrench 

entrust 

fulness 

maneuver 

pedler 

porticoes 


practise  (n. 

and  v.) 
raccoon 
sirup 
woful 


Distinctive  Standard  spellings  are,  cooper- 
ate, preempt,  reenjorce,  etc. 


ENGLISH    RULES    FOR    SPELLING, 
PUNCTUATION,   ETC.1 

The  following  section  is  taken  from  the 
nineteenth  edition  of  the  valuable  pamphlet 
compiled  for  the  use  of  compositors  and 
readers  at  the  University  Press  at  Oxford, 
England,  by  Mr.  Horace  Hart,  Printer  to  the 
University  of  Oxford;  Dr.  J.  A.  H.  Murray 
and  Dr.  Henry  Bradley,  Editors  of  the  New 
English  Dictionary;  Mr.  H.  Stuart  Jones, 
and  Professor  Robinson  Ellis.  It  comprises 
the  best  English  usage,  and  can  be  com- 
pared with  the  best  American  usage  shown 
in  the  preceding  section  compiled  by  Messrs. 
J.  S.  Cushing  &  Company  at  the  Norwood 
Press. 

These  English  Rules  apply  generally; 
but  directions  to  the  contrary  may  be  given 

1  In  a  Bible  house  especially,  it  must  always  be  remembered 
that  the  Bible  has  a  spelling  of  its  own;  and  that  in  Bible  and 
Prayer  Book  printing  the  Oxford  standards  are  to  be  exactly 
followed.  —  H  H. 


86         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

in  cases  of  works  to  be  printed  for  houses 
which  have  also  adopted  a  style  of  their 
own. 

CONTENTS   OF  THIS   SECTION 

Some  Words  ending  in  -able 88 

Some  Words  ending  in  -ise  or  -ize 89 

Some  Words  ending  in  -ment 91 

Some  Alternative  or  Difficult  Spellings     ....  92 

Doubling  Consonants  with  Suffixes 97 

In  Poetry,  Words  ending  in  -ed,  -ed 98 

Formation  of  Plurals  in  Words  of  Foreign  Origin  99 

Phonetic  Spellings 101 

Digraphs 101 

Foreign  Words  and  Phrases  when  to  be  set  in  Roman 

and  when  in  Italic 102 

Hyphens 104 

To  print  Contractions 107 

Capital  Letters 112 

Small  Capitals ...  113 

Lower-case  Initials 114 

Special  Signs  or  Symbols 114 

Spacing 115 

Italic  Type 117 

Division  of  Words  — 

I.  English 118 

II.  Some  Italian,  Portuguese,  and  Spanish  .     .  120 

Punctuation 120 

Figures  and  Numerals 134 

Errata;  Erratum 137 

A  or  An 138 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.  87 

Nor  and  Or 138 

Possessive  Case  of  Proper  Names 

By  Dr.  J.  A.  H.  Murray  139 

Works  in  the  French  Language 141 

Works  in  the  German  Language 163 

Division  of  Latin  Words 

By  Prof.  Robinson  Ellis  171 

Division  of  Creek  Words 

By  Mr.  H.  Stuart  Jones  172 


88         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


SOME    WORDS    ENDING    IN    -ABLE 

Words  ending  in  silent  e  generally  lose 
e  when  -able  is  added,  as  — 


adorable 
arguable 


desirable 
excusable 


indispensable 
leisurable 


But  this  rule  is  open  to  exceptions,  as  to 
which  authorities  are  not  agreed.  The  fol- 
lowing spellings  are  in  the  New  English 
Dictionary,  and  must  be  followed :  — 


advisable 

dilatable 

linable 

analysable 

dissolvable 

liveable 

ascribable 

endorsable 

lovable 

atonable 

evadable 

movable 

baptizable 

excisable 

nameable 

believable 

exercisable 

provable 

blameable 

finable 

rateable 

bribable 

forgivable 

rebukeable 

chaseable 

framable 

receivable 

confinable 

immovable 

reconcilable 

conversable 

improvable 

removable 

creatable 

inflatable 

saleable 

datable 

irreconcilable 

solvable 

debatable 

lapsable 

tameable 

defamable 

likeable 

tuneable 

definable 

English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.      89 

If  -able  is  preceded  by  ce  or  ge,  the  e  should 
be  retained,  to  preserve  the  soft  sound  of  c 
or  g,  as  — 


changeable 
chargeable 
knowledgeable 


lodgeable 

manageable 

noticeable 


peaceable 
serviceable 


Words  ending  in  double  ee  retain  both 
letters,  as  —  agreeable. 

In  words  of  English  formation,  a  final  con- 
sonant is  usually  doubled  before  -able,  as  — 


admittable 

deferrable 

incurrable 

biddable 

forgettable 

rebuttable 

clubbable 

gettable 

regrettable 

conferrable  l 

SOME  WORDS  ENDING  IN  -ISE  or  -IZE 

The  following  spellings  are  those  adopted 
for  the  New  English  Dictionary;  — 


actualize 

alcoholize 

apostrophize 

advertise 

alkalize 

apprise  (to  in- 

advise 

anathematize 

form) 

affranchise 

anatomize 

apprize  (to  ap 

aggrandize 

anglicize 

praise) 

agonize 

apologize 

authorize 

1  For  an  authoritative  statement  on  the  whole  subject  see 
the  New  English  Dictionary,  Vol.  I,  p.  910,  art.  -hie. 


90        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


baptize 

emphasize 

improvise 

brutalize 

emprise 

incise 

canonize 

enfranchise 

italicize 

capitalize 

enterprise 

jacobinize 

capsize 

epigrainmatize 

jeopardize 

carbonize 

epitomize 

kyanize 

catechize 

equalize 

latinize 

categorize 

eternize 

legalize 

cauterize 

etherealize 

localize 

centralize 

eulogize 

macadamize 

characterize 

evangelize 

magnetize 

chastise 

excise 

mainprize 

christianize 

exercise 

manumise 

cicatrize 

exorcize 

materialize 

circumcise 

extemporize 

memorialize 

civilize 

familiarize 

memorize 

colonize 

fertilize 

merchandise 

comprise 

formalize 

mesmerize 

compromise 

fossilize 

methodize 

contrariwise 

franchise 

minimize 

criticize 

fraternize 

mobilize 

crystallize 

gallicize 

modernize 

demise 

galvanize 

monopolize 

demoralize 

generalize 

moralize 

deodorize 

germanize 

nationalize 

desilverize 

gormandize 

naturalize 

despise 

graecize 

neutralize 

devise 

harmonize 

organize 

disfranchise 

humanize 

ostracize 

disguise 

hydrogenize 

oxidize 

disorganize 

idealize 

ozonize 

dogmatize 

idolize 

particularize 

economize 

immortalize 

patronize 

English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.      91 


pauperize 

scandalize 

surprise 

penalize 

scrutinize 

syllogize 

philosophize 

secularize 

symbolize 

plagiarize 

seise  (in  law) 

sympathize 

pluralize 

seize  (to  grasp) 

synthesize 

polarize 

sensitize 

systematize 

popularize 

signalize 

tantalize 

premise 

silverize 

temporize 

prise  up  (to) 

solemnize 

terrorize 

prize  (a) 

soliloquize 

tranquillize 

pulverize 

specialize 

tyrannize 

rationalize 

spiritualize 

utilize 

realize 

sterilize 

ventriloquize 

recognize 

stigmatize 

victimize 

reprise 

subsidize 

villa  nize 

revolutionize 

summarize 

visualize 

rhapsodize 

supervise 

vocalize 

romanize 

surmise 

vulgarize 

satirize 

SOME    WORDS    ENDING    IN    -MENT 

In  words  ending  in  -ment  always  print  the 
e  when  it  occurs  in  the  preceding  syllable, 
as  —  abridgement,  acknowledgement,  judge- 
ment, lodgement.1 

1  '  I  protest  against  the  unscholarly  habit  of  omitting  it  from 
"abridgement'",  "acknowledgement",  "judgement'",  "  lodge- 
ment", —  which  is  against  all  analogy,  etymology,  and  orthoepy, 
since  elsewhere  g  is  hard  in  English  when  not  followed  by  e  or  ». 
I  think  the  University  Press  ought  to  set  a  scholarly  example, 
instead  of  following  the  ignorant  to  do  ill,  for  the  sake  of  saving 


92         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

SOME  ALTERNATIVE   OR   DIFFICULT 
SPELLINGS 


MORE  OR  LESS  IN  DAILY  USE,  ARRANGED  IN  ALPHABETI- 
CAL ORDER  FOR  EASY  REFERENCE 


adaptable 

automobile 

by  the  by 

aerial 

axe  2 

cablegram 

aeronaut 

ay  {always) 

calendar 

aglow 

aye  {yes  '  the  ayes 

calligraphy 

almanac  l 

have  it ') 

canst 

ambidexterity 

banjos 

canvas  {cloth) 

analyse 

Barbadoes 

canvass  {political) 

ankle 

bark  {ship) 

carcass 

anybody 

battalion 

catarrhine 

any  one 

bedroom 

cat's  paw 

anything 

befall 

cauldron 

anywhere 

bethrall 

celluloid 

apanage 

bi-weekly 

chant 

apophthegm 

bluish 

chaperon 

apostasy 

bogie  {a  truck) 

cheque     {on     a 

armful 

bogy  {apparition) 

bank) 

artisan 

brier 

chequered  {career) 

ascendancy 

buffaloes 

chestnut 

assassin 

by  and  by 

dullness 

four  e's.   The  word 

"judgement""  has  been  spelt  in  the  Revised 

Version  correctly.'  - 

-  J.  A.  H.  M. 

1  But  the  k  is  retained  in  The  Oxford  Almanack,  following  the 

first  publication  in 

1674.  — H.  H. 

2  In  the  New  Ent 

glish  Dictionary,  Vol. 

I,  p.  598,  Dr.  J.  A.  H. 

Murray  says,  '  The 

spelling  ax  is  better 

on  every  ground  .  .  . 

than  axe,  which  has 

of  late  become  preva 

dent.'  (But  as  authors 

generally  still  call  for  the  commoner  spelling,  compositors  must 

follow  it.  —  H.  H.) 

English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.       93 


cider 

cipher 

clench  (fists) 

clinch  (argument) 

cloak  (not  cloke) 

clue  (but  clew  for 
part  of  a  sail) 

coalesce 

coco-nut 

coeval 

coexist 

cognizance 

coloration 

commonplace 

common-sense 
(adj.)  (but  com- 
mon sense  jor 
adj.   and  noun 
together) 

conjurer 

conjuror  (law) 

connexion 

connivence 

conscience'  sake 

contemporary 

couldst 

court  martial 


courts  martial 
curtsy 
dare  say 
daybreak 
deflexion 
demeanour 
dependant (noun) 
dependence 
dependent  (adj.) 
develop 
devest  (law) 
dexterously 
diaeresis  l 
dialyse 
dike 

ding-dong 
discoloration 
discolour 
disk 

dispatch  (not  de- 
spatch) 
distil 
disyllable 
doggerel 
dote 
dullness 
duodecimos 


easy  chair 

ecstasy 

embarkation 

empanel 

empanelled 

enclose 

endorse 

enroll 

enrolment 

ensconce 

ensure  (make  safe) 

enthral 

entreat 

entrust 

envelop  (verb) 

envelope  (noun) 

ethereal 

everyday 

every  one 

everything 

everywhere 

exorrhizal 

expense 

faecal 

faggot 

fantasy 

favour 


1  The  sign  ["]  sometimes  placed  over  the  second  of  two 
vowels  in  an  English  word  to  indicate  that  they  are  to  be  pro- 
nounced separately,  is  so  called  by  a  compositor.  By  the  way, 
this  sign  is  now  only  used  for  learned  or  foreign  words;  not  in 
chaos  nor  in  dais,  for  instance.  Naive  and  naivete  still  require 
it,  however  (see  pp.  103-4).  —  H.  H. 


94         A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


fetid 
filigree 
first-hand 
forbade 

foregone  {gone  be- 
fore) 
foretell 
for  ever 
forgo  l 

forme  (printer's) 
frenzy 
fuchsia 
fulfil 
fullness 

gage  (a  pledge) 
gauge  (a  measure) 
get-at-able 
gipsy 
godlike 
good-bye 
good  humour 
good-humoured 


good  nature 
good-natured 
goodness'  sake 
good  night 
goodwill 
gramophone 
granter  (one  who 

grants) 
grantor  (in  law; 

one  who  makes 

a  grant) 
grey 
hadst 

haemorrhage 
ha!  ha!  (laughter) 
ha-ha  (a  fence) 
half-dozen,  -way 
handiwork 
havoc 
hob-a-nob 
holiday 
honour 


horseshoe 

humorist 

humorous 

humour 

hyena 

icing 

ill-fated 

ill  health 

ill  luck 

ill  nature 

indoor 

inflexion 

inquire,  -quiry  8 

install 

instalment 

instil 

insure  (in  a  so- 
ciety) 

Inverness-shire, 
&c. 

ipecacuanha 

jail 


1  In  1896,  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  not  being  aware  of  this  rule, 
wished  to  include,  in  a  list  of  errata  for  insertion  in  Vol.  II  of 
Butler's  Works,  an  alteration  of  the  spelling,  in  Vol.  I,  of  the 
word  'forgo.'  On  receipt  of  his  direction  to  make  the  alteration, 
I  sent  Mr.  Gladstone  a  copy  of  Skeat's  Dictionary  to  show  that 
'forgo,'  in  the  sense  in  which  he  was  using  the  word,  was  right, 
and  could  not  be  corrected ;  but  it  was  only  after  reference  to 
Dr.  J.  A.  H.  Murray  that  Mr.  Gladstone  wrote  to  me,  'Person- 
ally I  am  inclined  to  prefer  forego,  on  its  merits;  but  authority 
must  carry  the  day.    I  give  in."  —  H.  H. 

2  'This  is  now  usual.  See  Dictionary,  s.  v.  Enq.' —  J.  A.  H.  M. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.      95 


jewellery 

moneys 

portray 

jews'  harp  and 

mosquitoes 

postilion 

jews'  harps 

mottoes 

pot  (size  of  pa- 

jugful 

negligible 

per) 

kinematograph 

negotiate 

potato 

ladylike 

net  (profits) 

potatoes 

lantern 

never-ending 

practice  (noun) 

licence  (noun) 

noonday 

practise  (verb) 

license  (verb) 

no  one 

premises  (no  sing., 

life-like 

octavos 

conveyancing) 

lifetime 

off  saddle 

premiss,    prem- 

liquefy 

oft-times 

isses  (logic) 

loath  (adj.) 

one-eighth 

primaeval 

loathe  (verb) 

oneself 

printer's  error, 

lovable 

onrush 

but  printers' 

mamma 

outdoor 

errors  x 

manifestoes 

out-of-date 

programme 

mattress 

out-of-door 

prophecy  (noun) 

mayst 

overalls 

prophesy  (verb) 

meantime 

overleaf 

provisos 

meanwhile 

oversea 

putrefy 

mediaeval 

ozone 

quartet 

midday 

parallelepiped 

quartos 

mightst 

paralyse 

quintet 

millennium 

partisan 

racket  (bat) 

misdemeanour 

pavilion 

rackets  (game) 

misspelling 

percentage 

racoon 

mistletoe 

petrify 

radium  (small  r) 

Mohammedan 

picnicking 

ragi  (grain) 

moneyed 

poniard 

raja 

1  Dr.  J.  A.  H.  Murray  thinks  that  where  there  is  any  ambigu- 
ity a  hyphen  may  also  be  used,  as  'bad  printers'-errors '. 


96        A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


rarefy 

rase  (to  erase) 

ratios 

raze     (to     the 

ground) 
reappear 
re-bound  (as  a 

book) 
recall 
recompense    (v. 

&■*  ».) 
recompose 
re-cover    (a 

chair) 
referable 
reflection  ' 
reimburse 
reinstate 

(but  re-enter, 

co-operate, 

pre-eminent, 

&c.) 
reopen 
ribbon 
rigorous 
rigors  (in  med.) 


rigour 

rime  (both  mean- 
ings) 

rout  (verb) 

second-hand 

secrecy 

selfsame 

sergeant  (mili- 
tary) 

serjeant  (law) 

Shakespeare  2 

shouldst 

show  (v.  cV  «.) 

shrillness 

sibyl 

sibylline 

siliceous 

siphon 

siren 

skilful 

some  one 

spadeful 

sphinx 

sponge 

spoonful 

stanch 


stationary  (stand- 
ing still) 

stationery  (paper) 

steadfast 

stillness 

story  (both  senses) 

stupefy 

such-like 

sycamore   (ord. 
sp.) 

sycomore     (Bible 
sp.) 

synonymous 

tallness 

tease 

tenor 

thyme  (herb) 

tire  (oj  a  wheel)  3 

title-page 

toboggan,  -ing 

toilet 

tomatoes 

topsy-turvy 

tranquillity 

transferable 

trousers 


1  '  Etymology  is  in  favour  of  reflexion,  but  usage  seems  to  be 
overpoweringly  in  favour  of  the  other  spelling.''  —  H.  B. 

2  <  Shakspere  is  preferable,  as  —  The  New  Shakspere  Soci- 
ety.' —  J.  A.  H.  M.  (But  the  Clarendon  Press  is  already  com- 
mitted to  the  more  extended  spelling.  —  H.  H.) 

3  '  But  the  bicycle-makers  have  apparently  adopted  the  non- 
etymological  tyre.''  —  J.  A.  H.  M. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.      97 


tumour 

villany 

whisky 

tyro 

visor 

whitish 

unmistakably 

volcanoes 

wilful 

up-to-date  l 

wabble 

woful 

vender  (as  gener- 

wagon 

wooed,  woos 

ally  used) 

weasand 

wouldst 

vendor  (in  law) 

wellnigh 

wrongdoing 

vermilion 

whilom 

zigzag 

DOUBLING  CONSONANTS  WITH  SUFFIXES 

Words  of  one  syllable,  ending  with  one 
consonant  preceded  by  one  vowel,  double 
that  consonant  on  adding  -ed  or  -ing:  e.g. 


drop 
stop 


dropped 
stopped 


dropping 
stopping 


Words  of  more  than  one  syllable,  end- 
ing with  one  consonant  preceded  by  one 
vowel,  and  accented  on  the  last  syllable, 
double  that  consonant  on  adding  -ed  or 
-ing:  e.g. 


allot 

allotted 

allotting 

infer 

inferred 

inferring 

trepan 

trepanned 

trepanning 

But  words  of  this  class  not  accented  on  the 

1  As,  up-to-date  records;   but  print  'the  records  are  up  to 
date'.  — H.  H. 


98         A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 

last  syllable  do  not  double  the  last  consonant ' 
on  adding  -ed,  -ing:  e.g. — 


balloted,  -ing 
banqueted,  -ing 
bayoneted,  -ing 
benefited,  -ing 
biased,  -ing 
billeted,  -ing 
bishoped,  -ing 
blanketed,  -ing 
bonneted,  -ing 
buffeted,  -ing 
carpeted,  -ing 
chirruped,  -ing 
combated,  -ing 
cricketing 
crocheting 


crotcheted,  -ing,  -y 
discomfited,  -ing 
docketed,  -ing 
ferreted,  -ing 
fidgeted,  -ing,  -y 
filleted,  -ing 
focused,  -ing 
galloped,  -ing 
gibbeted,  -ing 
gossiped,  -ing,  -y 
junketed,  -ing 
marketed,  -ing 
packeted,  -ing 
paralleled,  -ing 
pelleted,  -ing 


picketed,  -ing 
piloted,  -ing 
rabbeted,  -ing 
rabbiting 
rickety 
riveted,  -ing 
russeted,  -ing,  -y 
scolloped,  -ing 
tennising 
trinketed,  -ing 
trousered,  -ing 
trumpeted,  -ing 
velvety 
wainscoted,  -ing 


IN   POETRY 

words  ending  in  -ed  are  to  be  spelt  so  in 
all  cases;  and  with  a  grave  accent  when  the 
syllable  is  separately  pronounced,  thus  —  ed 
('d  is  not  to  be  used). 

This  applies  to  poetical  quotations  intro- 
duced into  prose  matter,  and  to  new  works. 

1  'We  must,  however,  still  except  the  words  ending  in  -el,  as 
levelled,  -er,  -ing;  travelled, -er,  -ing;  and  also  worshipped,  -er, 
-kg.'  —  J.  A.  H.  M. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.      99 

It  must  not  apply  to  reprints  of  standard 
authors. 

Poetical  quotations  should  be  spaced  with 
en  quadrats. 

FORMATION  OF    PLURALS    IN  WORDS    OF 
FOREIGN   ORIGIN 

Plurals  of  nouns  taken  into  English  from 
other  languages  sometimes  follow  the  laws 
of  inflexion  of  those  languages.  But  often, 
in  non-technical  works,  additional  forms  are 
used,  constructed  after  the  English  manner. 
Print  as  below,  in  cases  where  the  author 
does  not  object.  In  scientific  works  the  scien- 
tific method  must  of  course  prevail :  — 


Sing,  addendum 

PI.    addenda  x 

alumnus 

alumni 

amanuensis 

amanuenses 

animalculum 

animalcula 

antithesis 

antitheses 

appendix 

appendices 

arcanum 

arcana 

automaton 

automata 

axis 

axes 

basis 

bases 

beau 

beaux 

1  See  note  i  on  next  page. 


ioo       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


Sing. 


calix 

PI.  calices 

chrysalis 

chrysalises 

corrigendum 

corrigenda  1 

criterion 

criteria 

datum 

data 

desideratum 

desiderata 

dilettante 

dilettanti 

effluvium 

effluvia 

ellipsis 

ellipses 

erratum 

errata  l 

focus 

focuses  {jam.) 

formula 

formulae 

fungus 

fungi 

genius 

geniuses  2 

{meaning  a  person 

or  persons  of  genius) 

hypothesis 

hypotheses 

ignis  fatuus 

ignes  fatui 

index 

indexes  3 

iris 

irises 

lamina 

laminae 

larva 

larvae 

libretto 

libretti 

maximum 

maxima 

medium 

mediums  {jam.) 

memorandum 

memorandums  4 

{meaning  a  written  note  or  notes) 

1  See  reference  to  these  words  for  another  purpose  on  p.  1 37. 
—  H.  H. 

2  Genius,  in  the  sense  of  a  tutelary  spirit,  must  of  course  have 
the  plural  genii.  —  H.  H. 

3  In  scholarly  works,  indices  is  often  preferred;    and  in  the 
mathematical  sense  must  always  be  used.  —  H.  H. 

4  But  in  a  collective  or  special  sense  we  must  print  memo- 
randa. —  H.  H. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     101 


metamorphosis 

PL  metamorphoses 

miasma 

miasmata 

minimum 

minima 

nebula 

nebulae 

oasis 

oases 

parenthesis 

parentheses 

phenomenon 

phenomena 

radius 

radii 

radix 

radices 

sanatorium 

sanatoria 

scholium 

scholia 

spectrum 

spectra 

speculum 

specula 

stamen 

stamens 

stimulus 

stimuli 

stratum 

strata 

thesis 

theses 

virtuoso 

virtuosi 

vortex 

vortexes  {jam.) 

PHONETIC   SPELLINGS 

Some  newspapers  print  phonetic  spellings, 
such  as  program,  hight  (to  describe  altitude), 
catalog,  &c.  But  the  practice  has  insufficient 
authority,  and  can  be  followed  only  by  spe- 
cial direction. 

DIGRAPHS 

se  and  ce  should  each  be  printed  as  two 
letters    in    Latin    and    Greek   words,    e.  g. 


102       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Aeneid,  Aeschylus,  Caesar,  Oedipus;  and 
in  English,  as  mediaeval,  phoenix.  But  in 
Old- English  and  in  French  words  do  not 
separate  the  letters,  as  Alfred,  Csedmon, 
manoeuvre. 


FOREIGN  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  WHEN  TO 

BE  SET  IN    ROMAN   AND    WHEN  TO  BE 

SET  IN   ITALIC 

Print  the  following  anglicized  words  in 
roman  type.  In  all  of  the  French  examples 
but  two  the  spelling  is  according  to  Littr£. 


aide  de  camp 
a  propos 
aurora  borealis 
beau  ideal 
bezique 
bona  fide 
bouquet 
bravos 
bric-a-brac 


bulletin 

cafe 

cantos 

carte  de  visite 

charge  d'affaires 

chiaroscuro 

cliche" 

connoisseur 

cul-de-sac 


d6bris 

d£but 

depot  * 

detour 

diarrhoea 

dramatis 

personae 
eclat 
employe  2 


1  For  this  and  nearly  all  similar  words,  the  proper  accents 
are  to  be  used,  whether  the  foreign  words  be  anglicized  or  not. 
—  H.  H. 

2  Webster's  Dictionary  describes  employee  as  an  English 
word,  but  we  follow  the  N.  E.  D.  and  prefer  employd  (masc.) 
and  employee  (Jem.).  —  H.  H. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     103 


ennui 

manoeuvre 

regime 

entree 

memorandum 

rendezvous  l 

etiquette  l 

menu 

role 

facsimile 

naive 

savants 

fete 

omnibus 

seraglio 

gratis 

papier  mache 

sobriquet 

habeas  corpus 

per  annum 

soiree 

hors-d'oeuvre 

post  mortem 

versus 

innuendo 

poste  restante 

via 

innuendoes 

precis 

vice  versa 

levee 

prestige 

viva  voce 

litterateur 

prima  facie 

litterati 

protege 

The  following  to  be  printed  in  italics :  — 


ab  origine 
ad  nauseam 
a  fortiori 
amour  propre 
ancien  regime 
anglice 
a  priori 
au  courant 
au  revoir 
bonhomie 
chef-d'(suvre 
chevaux  de  frise 
con  amore 


confrere 
cortege  2 
coup  d'etat 
coup  de  grace 
de  quoi  vivre 
edition  de  luxe 
elite 
en  bloc 
en  masse 
en  passant 
en  route 
ex  catliedra 
ex  officio 


facile  princeps 
felo  de  se 
garcon 
grand  monde 
habitue 

hors  de  combat 
in  propria  per- 
sona 
laisser-faire 
lapsus  linguae 
melee 

mise  en  scene 
modus  operandi 


1  Omit  the  accent  from  etiquette;    and  the  hyphen  from 
rendez-vous.  —  H.  H. 

2  For  a  statement  as  to  this  and  other  French  words  now 
printed  with  a  grave  accent,  see  p.  150.  —  H.  H. 


104       -4  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 


more  suo 
multum  in  parvo 
naivete 
nemine     contra- 

dicente 
ne  plus  ultra 
nolens  volens 
par  excellence 
pari  passu 


piece  de  resist- 
ance 
plebiscite 
pro  forma 
pro  tempore 
raison  d'etre 
resume 
sang-froid 
sans  ceremonie 


sans-culolle 

sine  qua  non 

sotto  voce 

sub  rosa 

tele  a  tete  (adv.) 

tete-a-tete  (noun) 

vis-a-vis 


The  modern  practice  is  to  omit  accents 
from  Latin  words. 


HYPHENS » 

The  hyphen  need  not,  as  a  rule,  be  used 
to  join  an  adverb  to  the  adjective  which  it 
qualifies :  as  in  — 

a  beautifully  furnished  house, 
a  well  calculated  scheme. 

1  See  New  English  Dictionary,  Vol.  I,  page  xiii,  art.  'Com- 
binations/ where  Dr.  Murray  writes:  '  In  many  combinations  the 
hyphen  becomes  an  expression  of  unification  of  sense.  When 
this  unification  and  specialization  has  proceeded  so  far  that 
we  no  longer  analyse  the  combination  into  its  elements,  but 
take  it  in  as  a  whole,  as  in  blackberry,  postman,  newspaper, 
pronouncing  it  in  speech  with  a  single  accent,  the  hyphen  is 
usually  omitted,  and  the  fully  developed  compound  is  written  as 
a  single  word.  But  as  this  also  is  a  question  of  degree,  there  are 
necessarily  many  compounds  as  to  which  usage  has  not  yet 
determined  whether  they  are  to  be  written  with  the  hyphen 
or  as  single  words.' 

And  again,  in  the  Schoolmasters'"  Tear-book  for  1903,  Dr. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     105 

When  the  word  might  not  at  once  be  re- 
cognized as  an  adverb,  use  the  hyphen: 
as  — 

a  well-known  statesman, 
an  ill-built  house, 
a  new-found  country, 
the  best-known  proverb, 
a  good-sized  room. 

When  an  adverb  qualifies  a  predicate,  the 
hyphen  should  not  be  used :  as  — 

this  fact  is  well  known. 

Where  either  (1)  a  noun  and  adjective  or 
participle,  or  (2)  an  adjective  and  a  noun, 
in  combination,  are  used  as  a  compound 
adjective,  the  hyphen  should  be  used :  — 

a  poverty-stricken  family, 

a  blood-red  hand, 

a  nineteenth-century  invention. 

Murray  writes:  'There  is  no  rule,  propriety,  or  consensus  of 
usage  in  English  for  the  use  or  absence  of  the  hyphen,  except  in 
cases  where  grammar  or  sense  is  concerned;  as  in  a  day  well 
remembered,  but  a  well-remembered  day,  the  sea  of  a  deep 
green,  a  deep-green  sea,  a  baby  little  expected,  a  little-expected 
baby,  not  a  deep  green  sea,  a  little  expected  baby.  .  .  .  Avoid 
Headmaster,  because  this  implies  one  stress,  Headmaster,  and 
would  analogically  mean  "master  of  heads,"  like  schoolmaster, 
ironmaster.  ...  Of  course  the  hyphen  comes  in  at  once  in 
combinations  and  derivatives,  as  head-mastership.' 


106       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

A  compound  noun  which  has  but  one  ac- 
cent, and  from  familiar  use  has  become  one 
word,  requires  no  hyphen.    Examples :  — 


blackbird 

mantelpiece 

teapot 

byname 

notebook 

textbook 

byword 

ndwadays 

torchlight 

hairdresser 

schoolboy 

upstairs 

handbook 

schoolgirl 

watchcase 

handkerchief 

seaport 

wheelbarrow 

Compound  words  of  more  than  one  accent, 
as  —  apple-tre'e,  cherry-pie,  gravel- walk,  will- 
o'-the-wisp,  as  well  as  others  which  follow, 
require  hyphens :  — 


arm-chair 

bird-cage 

by-law 

by-way 

cousin-german 

dumb-bell 

ear-rings 

farm-house 

guide-book 

gutta-percha 


half-crown 

harvest-field 

head-dress 

hour-glass 

india-rubber 

knick-knack 

looking-glass 

man-of-war 

one-and-twenty 

quarter-day 


race-course 

sea-serpent 

small-pox 

son-in-law 

starting-point 

step-father 

title-deeds 

to-day 

top-mast 

year-book 


Half  an  inch,  half  a  dozen,  &c,  require  no 
hyphens.  Print  fellow  men,  head  quarters, 
head  master  (see  note  on  page  104),  post 
office,  revenue  office,  union  jack,  &c. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     107 

TO   PRINT   CONTRACTIONS 

Note.  —  Some  abbreviations  of  Latin  words  such  as 
ad  loc,  &C,  to  be  set  in  roman,  are  shown  for  the  sake 
of  contrast,  on  page  118. 

Names  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  as  abbre- 
viated where  necessary :  — 

Old  Testament 


Gen. 

1  Sam.            Esther 

Jer. 

Jonah 

Exod. 

2  Sam.            Job 

Lam. 

Mic. 

Lev. 

1  Kings           Ps. 

Ezek. 

Nahum 

Num. 

2  Kings           Prov. 

Dan. 

Hab. 

Deut. 

1  Ch 

ron.         Eccles. 

Hos. 

Zeph. 

Joshua 

2  Chron.          Song  of 

Joel 

Hag. 

Judges 

Ezra 

Sol. 

Amos 

Zech. 

Ruth 

Neh. 

Isa. 

New  Testament 

Obad. 

Mai. 

Matt. 

Rom. 

Phil.             1  Tim. 

Heb. 

1  John 

Mark 

1  Cor. 

Col.              2  Tim. 

Jas. 

2  John 

Luke 

2  Cor. 

1  Thess.      Titus 

1  Pet. 

3  John 

John 

Gal. 

2  Thess.      Philem 

.      2  Pet. 

Jude 

Acts 

Eph. 

Apocrypha 

Rev. 

1  Esdras 

Wisd.  of  Sol. 

Susanna 

2  Esdras 

Ecclus. 

Bel  and  Dragon 

Tobit 

E-aruch 

Pr.  of  Manasses 

Judith 

Song  of  Three 

1  Mace. 

Rest  of  Esth. 

Childr. 

2  Mace. 

108       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 
To  abbreviate  the  names  of  the  months: 


Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 

Apr. 

May 

June 

July 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dec. 

Where  the  name  of  a  county  is  abbrevi- 
ated, as  Yorks.,  Cambs.,  Berks.,  Oxon.,  use 
a  full  point;  but  print  Hants  (no  full  point) 
because  it  is  not  a  modern  abbreviation. 

4to,  8vo,  i2mo,1  &c.  (sizes  of  books), 
are  symbols,  and  should  have  no  full  point. 
A  parallel  case  is  that  of  ist,  2nd,  3rd,  and 
so  on,  which  also  need  no  full  points. 

Print  lb.  for  both  sing,  and  pi.;  not  lbs. 

In  ye  and  yl  the  second  letter  should  be 
a  superior,  and  without  a  full  point. 

When  beginning  a  footnote,  the  abbre- 
viations e.g.,  i.e.,  p.  or  pp.,  and  so  on,  to 
be  all  in  lower-case. 

References  to  the  Bible  in  ordinary  works 

1  To  justify  the  use  in  ordinary  printing  of  these  symbols 
(as  against  the  use  of  40,  8°,  120,  a  prevailing  French  fashion 
which  is  preferred  by  some  writers),  it  may  suffice  to  say  that  the 
ablative  cases  of  the  ordinal  numbers  quartus,  octavus,  duodeci- 
mus,  namely  quarto,  octavo,  duodecimo,  are  according  to  popular 
usage  represented  by  the  forms  or  symbols  4to,  8vo,  i2mo;  just 
as  by  the  same  usage  we  print  1st  and  2nd  as  forms  or  symbols 
of  the  English  words  first  and  second.  —  H.  H. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     109 

to    be    printed    thus  —  Exod.    xxxii.    32 ; 
xxxvii.  2. 

References  to  Shakespeare's  plays  thus  — 
1  Henry  VI,  iii.  2.  14,  and  so  on.1 

Use  ETC.  in  a  cap.  line  and  etc.  in 
a  small  cap.  line  where  an  ampersand 
(&)  will  not  range.  Otherwise  print  &c. ; 
and  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.;  with  no 
comma  before  ampersand  in  the  name  of  a 
firm. 

The  points  of  the  compass,  N.  E.  S.  W., 
when  separately  used,  to  have  a  full  point: 
but  print  NE.,  NNW.  These  letters  to  be 
used  only  in  geographical  or  similar  mat- 
ter: do  not,  even  if  N.  is  in  the  copy,  use 
the  contraction  in  ordinary  composition; 
print  'Woodstock  is  eight  miles  north  of 
Carfax'. 

MS.  =  manuscript  (noun),  to  be  used  in 
the  printing  of  bibliographical  details,  but 
not  when  used  adjectivally ;  and  it  may 
be  spelt  out  even  when  used  as  a  noun,  if 

1  'A  very  bad  system:  in.  ii.  14,  is  clearer.'  —  J.  A.  H.  M. 
(But  the  University  Press  is  already  committed  to  the  above 
form.  —  H.  H.) 


no       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

clearer  to  the  sense.  Print  the  plural  form 
MSS. 

Print  PS.  (not  P.S.)  for  postscript  or 
postscriptum;  SS.  not  S.S.  (steamship);  but 
H.M.S.  (His  Majesty's  Ship);  H.R.H.; 
I.W.  (Isle  of  Wight);  N.B.,  Q.E.D.,  and 
R.S.V.P.,  because  more  than  one  word  is 
contracted. 

Print  the  symbolic  letters  I  O  U,  without 
full  points. 

In  printing  S.  or  St.  for  Saint,  the  com- 
positor must  be  guided  by  the  wish  of  the 
author,  assumed  or  expressed. 

Print  X-rays;  and  ME.  and  OE.  in  philo- 
logical works  for  Middle  English  and  Old 
English. 

Apostrophes  in  similar  abbreviations  to 
the  following  should  join  close  up  to  the 
letters  —  don't,  'em,  haven't,  o'er,  shan't, 
shouldn't,  'tis,  won't,  there'll,  I'll,  we'll. 

An  apostrophe  should  not  be  used  with 
hers,  ours,  theirs,  yours. 

Apostrophes  in  Place- Names.1  —  i.  Use  an 

1  The  selection  is  arbitrary;  but  the  examples  are  given  on 
the  authority  of  the  Cambridge  University  and  Oxford  Uni- 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     in 

apostrophe  after  the '  s '  in  —  Queens'  College 
(Cambs.),  St.  Johns'  (I.  of  M.).    But 

2.  Use  an  apostrophe  before  the  's'  in 
Connah's  Quay  (Flints.),  Hunter's  Quay 
(N.  B.),  Orme's  Head  (Cam.),  Queen's  Coll. 
(Oxon.),  St.  Abb's  Head  (N.  B.),  St.  John's 
(Newfoundland),  St.  John's  Wood  (London), 
St.  Mary's  Loch  (N.  B.),  St.  Michael's  Mount 
(Cornwall),  St.  Mungo's  Well  (Knaresboro), 
St.  Peter's  (Sydney,  N.  S.  W.). 

3.  Do  not  use  an  apostrophe  in  —  All 
Souls  (Oxon.),  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  Husbands 
Bosworth  (Rugby),  Johns  Hopkins  Univer- 
sity (U.  S.  A.),  Millers  Dale  (Derby),  Owens 
College  (Manchester),  St.  Albans,  St.  An- 
drews, St.  Bees,  St.  Boswells,  St.  Davids, 
St.  Helens  (Lanes.,  and  district  in  London), 
St.  Heliers  (Jersey),  St.  Ives  (Hunts,  and 
Cornwall),  St.  Kitts  (St.  Christopher  Island, 
W.  I.),  St.  Leonards,  St.  Neots  (Hunts.,  but 
St.  Neot,  Cornwall),  SomersTown  (London). 

versify  Calendars,  the  Post  Office  Guide,  Bartholomew's 
Gazetteer,  Bradshaw's  Railway  Guide,  Crockford's  Clerical 
Directory,  Keith  Johnston's  Gazetteer,  and  Stubbs's  Hotel 
Guide. 


ii2       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

CAPITAL   LETTERS 

Avoid  beginning  words  with  capitals  as 
much  as  possible;  but  use  them  in  the  fol- 
lowing and  similar  cases :  — 

Act,  when  referring  to  Act  of  Parliament 
or  Acts  of  a  play;  also  in  Baptist,  Christian, 
Nonconformist,  Presbyterian,  Puritan,  and 
all  denominational  terms. 

His  Majesty,  Her  Royal  Highness,  &c. 

The  King  of  England,  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

Sir  Roger  Tichborne,  J.  Spencer,  Esq., 
Mr.  J.  Spencer-Smith,  &c. 

Christmas  Day,  Lady  Day,  &c. 

House  of  Commons,  Parliament,  &c. 

The  names  of  streets,  roads,  &c,  are  to 
be  separate  words,  with  initial  capitals,  as  — 
Chandos  Street,  Trafalgar  Square,  Kingston 
Road,  Addison's  Walk,  Norreys  Avenue. 

Pronouns  referring  to  the  Deity  should 
begin  with  capitals  —  He,  Him,  His,  Me, 
Mine,  My,  Thee,  Thine,  Thou ;  but  print  — 
who,  whom,  and  whose. 

O  Lord,  O  God,  O  sir;  but  Oh,  that,  &c. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     113 

SMALL    CAPITALS 

Put  a  hair  space  between  the  letters  of 
contractions  in  small  capitals :  — 

a.tj.c.    Anno  urbis  conditae 
A.  d.  Anno  Domini  A.  m.  Anno  mundi 

a.h.  Anno  Hegirae  B.C.  Before  Christ. 

a.m.1  (ante  meridiem),  p.m.1  (post  meridiem) 
should  be  lower-case,  except  in  lines  of  caps, 
or  small  caps. 

When  small  caps,  are  used  at  foot  of  title- 
page,  print  thus :   M  dcccc  iv  2 

The  first  word  in  each  chapter  of  a  book  is 
to  be  in  small  caps,  and  the  first  line  usually 
indented  one  em;  but  this  does  not  apply 
to  works  in  which  the  matter  is  broken  up 
into  many  sections,  nor  to  cases  where  large 

1  It  is  a  common  error  to  suppose  that  these  initials  stand 
for  ante-meridian  and  post-meridian.  Thus,  Charles  Dickens 
represents  one  of  his  characters  in  Pickwick  as  saying: '  Curious 
circumstance  about  those  initials,  sir  ',  said  Mr.  Magnus.  'You 
will  observe  —  P.  M.  —  post  meridian.  In  hasty  notes  to  inti- 
mate acquaintance,  I  sometimes  sign  myself  "Afternoon".  It 
amuses  my  friends  very  much,  Mr.  Pickwick.'  —  Dickens, 
Pickwick  Papers,  p.  367,  Oxford  edit.,  1903.  —  H.  H. 

2  'Or  better  m  cm  iv'  —  J.  A.  H.  M. 


ii4       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

initials  are  used.     (See  bottom  of  p.  116,  as 
to  indentation.) 

References  in  text  to  caps,  in  plates  and 
woodcuts  to  be  in  small  caps. 

LOWER-CASE   INITIALS 

FOR   ANGLICIZED   WORDS 

christianize,  frenchified,  herculean,  laconic, 
latinity,  latinize,  tantalize. 

Also  the  more  common  words  derived 
from  proper  names,  as  — 

boycott,  d'oyley,  guernsey,  hansom-cab, 
holland,  inverness,  italic,  japanning,  may 
(blossom),  morocco,  roman,  russia,  vulcanize. 

SPECIAL  SIGNS   OR  SYMBOLS 

The  signs  +  (plus),  —  (minus),  =  (equal 
to),  >  ('larger  than',  in  etymology  signifying 
'gives'  or  'has  given'),  <  ('smaller  than', 
in  etymology  signifying  'derived  from'), 
are  now  often  used  in  printing  ordinary 
scientific  works,  and  not  in  those  only  which 
are  mathematical  or  arithmetical. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     115 

In  such  instances  +  ,—,=,>,<,  should 
in  the  matter  of  spacing  be  treated  as  words 
are  treated,  i.e.  in  a  line  which  needs  wide 
spacing  there  should  be  more  space,  and  in 
a  line  which  requires  thin  spacing  there 
should  be  less  space,  before  or  after  them. 
For  instance,  in  — 

spectabilis,  Boerl.  I.  c.  (==  Haasia  spectabilis) 

the  =  belongs  to  'spectabilis'  as  much  as 
to  'Haasia',  and  the  sign  should  not  be 
put  close  to  'Haasia'. 

SPACING 

Spacing  ought  to  be  even.  Paragraphs  are 
not  to  be  widely  spaced  for  the  sake  of 
making  break-lines.  When  the  last  line  but 
one  of  a  paragraph  is  widely  spaced  and 
the  first  line  of  the  next  paragraph  is  more 
than  thick-spaced,  extra  spaces  should  be 
used  between  the  words  in  the  intermediate 
breakline.  Such  spaces  should  not  exceed 
en  quads,  nor  be  increased  if  by  so  doing 
the  line  would  be  driven  full  out. 


n6       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Break- lines  should  consist  of  more  than 
five  letters,  except  in  narrow  measures.  But 
take  care  that  bad  spacing  is  not  thereby 
necessitated. 

Avoid  (especially  in  full  measures)  print- 
ing at  the  ends  of  lines  — 

a,  1.,  11.,  p.  or  pp.,  I  (when  a  pronoun). 

Capt.,  Dr.,  Esq.,  Mr.,  Rev.,  St.,  and  so  on, 
should  not  be  separated  from  names;  nor 
should  initials  be  divided:  e.g.  Mr.  W.  E.  | 
Gladstone;  not  Mr.  W.  J  E.  Gladstone. 

Thin  spaces  before  apostrophes,  e.  g.  that 's 
(for  'that  is'),  boy's  (for  'boy  is'),  to  dis- 
tinguish abbreviations  from  the  possessive 
case. 

Hair  spaces  to  be  placed  between  contrac- 
tions, as  in  e.g.,  i.e.,  q. v. 

Indentation  of  first  lines  of  paragraphs 
should  be  one  em  for  full  measures  in  8vo 
and  smaller  books.  In  4to  and  larger  books 
the  identation  should  be  increased. 

Sub-indentation  should  be  proportionate; 
and  the  rule  for  all  indentation  is  not  to 
drive  too  far  in. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     117 

ITALIC   TYPE 

Note.  —  A  list  of  foreign  and  anglicized  words  and 
phrases,  showing  which  should  be  printed  in  roman  and 
which  in  italic,  is  given  on  pp.  102-4. 

In  many  works  it  is  now  common  to  print 
titles  of  books  in  italic,  instead  of  in  inverted 
commas.  This  must  be  determined  by  the 
directions  given  with  the  copy,  but  the  prac- 
tice must  be  uniform  throughout  the  work. 

Short  extracts  from  books,  whether  foreign 
or  English,  should  not  be  in  italic  but  in 
roman  (between  inverted  commas,  or  other- 
wise, as  directed  on  p.  130). 

Names  of  periodicals  and  ships  1  should 
be  in  italic;  and  authorities  at  the  ends  of 
quotations  or  notes  thus:  Homer,  Odyssey, 
ii.  15,  but  print  Hor.  Carm.  ii.  14.  2;  Hom. 
Od.  iv.  272.    This  applies  chiefly  to  quota- 

1  Italicizing  the  names  of  ships  is  thus  recognized  by  Victor 
Hugo:  'II  l'avait  nomme  Durande.  La  Durande,  —  nous  ne 
Tappelerons  plus  autrement.  On  nous  permettra  egalement, 
quel  que  soit  Tusage  typographique,  de  ne  point  souligner  ce 
nom  Durande,  nous  conformant  en  cela  a  la  pensee  de  Mess 
Lethierry  pour  qui  la  Durande  6tait  presque  une  personnel  — 
V.  Hugo,  Travailleurs  de  la  mer,  3rd  (1866)  edit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  129. 
—  H.  H. 


n8      A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

tions  at  the  heads  of  chapters.  It  does  not 
refer  to  frequent  citations  in  footnotes,  where 
the  author's  name  is  usually  in  lower-case 
letters. 

ad  loc,  cf.,  e.g.,  et  seq.,  ib.,  ibid.,  id.,  i.e., 
loc.  cit,  q.v.,  u.s.,  viz.,1  not  to  be  in  italic. 
Print  ante,  infra,  passim,  post,  supra,  &c. 

Italic  s.  and  d.  to  be  generally  used  to 
express  shillings  and  pence;  and  the  sign  £ 
(except  in  special  cases)  to  express  the  pound 
sterling.  But  in  catalogues  and  similar  work, 
the  diagonal  sign  /  or  'shilling-mark'  is 
sometimes  preferred  to  divide  figures  repre- 
senting shillings  and  pence.  The  same  sign 
is  occasionally  used  in  dates,  as  4/2/°4« 

DIVISION   OF  WORDS 

I.    ENGLISH 

Such  divisions  as  en-,  de-,  or  in-  to  be 
allowed  only  in  very  narrow  measures,  and 
there  exceptionally. 

Disyllables,  as  'into',  'until',  &c,  are 
to  be  divided  only  in  very  narrow  measures. 

1  This  expression,  although  a  symbol  rather  than  an  abbre- 
viation, must  be  printed  with  a  full  point  after  the  z.  —  H.  H. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     119 
The  following  divisions  to  be  preferred:  — 

abun-dance  estab-lish-ment       pun-ish 

corre-spon-dence  impor-tance  respon-dent 

depen-dent  inter-est 

dimin-ish  minis-ter 

Avoid  similar  divisions  to  — 

star-vation,  obser-vation,  exal-tation, 

gene-ration,  imagi-nation,  origi-nally; 

but  put  starva-tion,  &c. 

The  principle  is  that  the  part  of  the  word 
left  at  the  end  of  a  line  should  suggest  the 
part  commencing  the  next  line.  Thus  the 
word  'happiness'  should  be  divided  happi- 
ness, not  hap-piness.1 

Roman-ism,  Puritan-ism;  but  Agnosti- 
cism, Catholi-cism,  criti-cism,  fanati-cism, 
tautolo-gism,  witti-cism,  &c. 

1  I  was  once  asked  how  I  would  carry  out  the  rule  that  part 
of  the  word  left  in  one  line  should  suggest  what  followed  in  the 
nest,  in  such  a  case  as  'disproportionableness1,  which,  according 
to  Dr.  J.  A.  H.  Murray,  is  one  of  the  longest  words  in  the  English 
language;  or  'incircumscriptibleness  ',  used  by  one  Byfield,  a 
divine,  in  1615,  who  wrote,  'The  immensity  of  Christ's  divine 
nature  hath  .  .  .  incircumscriptibleness  in  respect  of  place"  ; 
or  again,  'antidisestablishmentarians',  quoted  in  the  recent 
biography  of  Archbishop  Benson,  where  he  says  that  'the  Free 
Kirk  of  the  North  of  Scotland  are  strong  antidisestablishmen- 
tarians\  —  H.  H. 


120       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Atmo-sphere,  micro-scope,  philo-sophy, 
tele- phone,  tele-scope,  should  have  only  this 
division.  But  always  print  episco-pal  (not 
epi-scopal),  &C.1 

II.   SOME   ITALIAN,    PORTUGUESE,    AND    SPANISH  WORDS 

Italian.  —  Divide  si-gnore  (gn  =  ni  in 
'mania'),  trava-gliare  (gli=//i  in  'William'), 
tra-scinare  {sc\=shi  in  'shin'),  i.e.  take  over 
gn,  gl,  sci.  In  such  a  case  as  'all'  uomo' 
divide,  if  necessary,  'al-1'uomo'. 

Portuguese.  —  Divide  se-nhor  (nh.=ni  in 
'mania'),  bata-lha  Qh=lli  in  'William'), 
i.e.  take  over  nh,  lh. 

Spanish.  —  Divide  se-nora  (h=ni  in 
'mania'),  maravi-lloso  Ql=Ui  in  'William'), 
i.e.  take  over  fi,  11. 

PUNCTUATION 

The  compositor  is  recommended  to  study 
attentively  a  good  treatise  2  on  the  whole 

1  'Even  the  divisions  noted  as  preferable  are  not  free  from 
objection,  and  should  be  avoided  when  it  is  at  all  easy  to  do  so.' 
—  H.  B. 

2  For  example,  Spelling  and  Punctuation,  by  H.  Beadnell 
(Wyman) ;    Stops ;   or,  How  to   Punctuate,  by  P.  Allardyce 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     121 

subject.  He  will  find  some  knowledge  of 
it  to  be  indispensable  if  his  work  is  to  be 
done  properly;  for  most  writers  send  in 
copy  quite  unprepared  as  regards  punc- 
tuation, and  leave  the  compositor  to  put  in 
the  proper  marks.  'Punctuation  is  an  art 
nearly  always  left  to  the  compositor,  authors 
being  almost  without  exception  either  too 
busy  or  too  careless  to  regard  it.'  *  Some 
authors  rightly  claim  to  have  carefully  pre- 
pared copy  followed  absolutely;  but  such 
cases  are  rare,  and  the  compositor  can  as  a 
rule  only  follow  his  copy  exactly  when  setting 
up  standard  reprints.  'The  first  business 
of  the  compositor,'  says  Mr.  De  Vinne,  'is 
to  copy  and  not  to  write.  He  is  enjoined 
strictly  to  follow  the  copy  and  never  to  change 
the  punctuation  of  any  author  who  is  precise 
and  systematic;  but  he  is  also  required  to 
punctuate  the  writings  of  all  authors  who 
are  not  careful,  and  to  make  written  expres- 

(Fisher   Unwin) ;     Correct    Composition,  by  T.   L.   De  Vinne 
(New  York,  Century  Co.)  ;   or  the  more  elaborate  Guide  pra- 
tique du  compositeur,  &c,  by  T.  Lefevre  (Paris,  Firmin-Didot). 
1  Practical  Printing,  by  Southward  and  Powell,  p.  191. 


122       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

sion  intelligible  in  the  proof.  ...  It  follows 
that  compositors  are  inclined  to  neglect  the 
study  of  rules  that  cannot  be  generally 
applied.'  * 

It  being  admitted,  then,  that  the  com- 
positor is  to  be  held  responsible  in  most 
cases,  he  should  remember  that  loose  punc- 
tuation,2 especially  in  scientific  and  philo- 
sophical works,  is  to  be  avoided.  We  will 
again  quote  Mr.  De  Vinne:  'Two  systems 
of  punctuation  are  in  use.  One  may  be 
called  the  close  or  stiff,  and  the  other  the 
open  or  easy  system.  For  all  ordinary  de- 
scriptive writing  the  open  or  easy  system, 
which  teaches  that  points  be  used  sparingly, 
is  in  most  favor,  but  the  close  or  stiff  sys- 

1  De  Vinne,  Correct  Composition,  pp.  241-2. 

2  How  much  depends  upon  punctuation  is  well  illustrated  in 
a  story  told,  I  believe,  by  the  late  G.  A.  Sala,  once  a  writer  in 
the  Daily  Telegraph,  about  R.  B.  Sheridan,  dramatist  and 
M.P.  In  the  House  of  Commons,  Sheridan  one  day  gave  an 
opponent  the  lie  direct.  Called  upon  to  apologize,  the  offender 
responded  thus:  '  Mr.  Speaker  I  said  the  honourable  Member 
was  a  liar  it  is  true  and  I  am  sorry  for  it.'  Naturally  the  person 
concerned  was  not  satisfied;  and  said  so.  'Sir,"  continued  Mr. 
Sheridan,  'the  honourable  Member  can  interpret  the  terms  of 
my  statement  according  to  his  ability,  and  he  can  put  punctua- 
tion marks  where  it  pleases  him.'  —  H.  H. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     123 

tern  cannot  be  discarded.'  l  The  compositor 
who  desires  to  inform  himself  as  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  theory  of  punctuation,  will  find 
abundant  information  in  the  works  men- 
tioned in  the  footnote  on  p.  120;  in  our  own 
booklet  there  is  only  space  for  a  few  cautions 
and  a  liberal  selection  of  examples;  authority 
for  the  examples,  when  they  are  taken  from 
the  works  of  other  writers,  being  given  in  all 
cases. 

THE   COMMA 

Commas  should,  as  a  rule,  be  inserted 
between  adjectives  preceding  and  qualifying 
substantives,  as  — 

An  enterprising,  ambitious  man. 

A  gentle,  amiable,  harmless  creature. 

A  cold,  damp,  badly  lighted  room. 

Peter  was  a  wise,  holy,  and  energetic  man.2 

But  where  the  last  adjective  is  in  closer 
relation  to  the  substantive  than  the  preced- 
ing ones,  omit  the  comma,  as  — 

A  distinguished  foreign  author. 

The  sailor  was  accompanied  by  a  great  rough  New- 
foundland dog.2 

1  De  Vinne,  Correct  Composition,  p.  244. 

2  Beadnell,  pp.  99-101. 


124       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

The  following  sentence  needs  no  commas:  — 

God  is  wise  and  righteous  and  faithful.1 

Such  words  as  moreover,  however,  &c, 
are  usually  followed  by  a  comma 2  when  used 
at  the  opening  of  a  sentence,  or  preceded 
and  followed  by  a  comma  when  used  in  the 
middle  of  a  sentence.    For  instance :  — 

In  any  case,  however,  the  siphon  may  be  filled.1 

It  is  better  to  use  the  comma  in  such  sen- 
tences as  those  which  immediately  follow :  — 

Truth  ennobles  man,  and  learning  adorns  him.1 

The  Parliament  is  not  dissolved,  but  only  prorogued. 

The  French  having  occupied  Portugal,  a  British 
squadron,  under  Rear-Admiral  Sir  Samuel  Hood,  sailed 
for  Madeira. 

I  believed,  and  therefore  I  spoke. 

The  question  is,  Can  it  be  performed  ? 

My  son,  give  me  thy  heart. 

The  Armada  being  thus  happily  defeated,  the  nation 
resounded  with  shouts  of  joy. 

1  All  the  examples  in  this  page  are  from  Beadnell,  pp.  94- 
110. 

2  Nevertheless,  the  reader  is  not  to  be  commended  who,  being 
told  that  the  word  however  was  usually  followed  by  a  comma, 
insisted  upon  altering  a  sentence  beginning  '  However  true  this 
may  be,'  &c,  to  '  However,  true  this  may  be,'  &c.  This  is  the 
late  Dean  Alford's  story.  See  The  Queen's  English,  p.  124,  ed. 
1870.  — H.H. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     125 

Be  assured,  then,  that  order,  frugality,  and  economy, 
are  the  necessary  supporters  of  every  personal  and  pri- 
vate virtue. 

Virtue  is  the  highest  proof  of  a  superior  understand- 
ing, and  the  only  basis  of  greatness. 

THE   SEMICOLON 

Instances  in  which  the  semicolon  is  ap- 
propriate :  — 

Truth  ennobles  man;   learning  adorns  him. 

The  temperate  man's  pleasures  are  always  durable, 
because  they  are  regular;  and  all  his  life  is  calm  and 
serene,  because  it  is  innocent. 

Those  faults  which  arise  from  the  will  are  intolerable; 
for  dull  and  insipid  is  every  performance  where  inclina- 
tion bears  no  part. 

Economy  is  no  disgrace  ;  for  it  is  better  to  live  on 
a  little  than  to  outlive  a  great  deal. 

To  err  is  human;    to  forgive,  divine.1 

Never  speak  concerning  what  you  are  ignorant  of; 
speak  little  of  what  you  know;  and  whether  you  speak 
or  say  not  a  word,  do  it  with  judgement.1 

Semicolons  divide  the  simple  members  of 
a  compound  sentence,  and  a  comma  and 
dash  come  after  the  last  sentence  and  before 
the  general  conclusion :  — 

To  give  an  early  preference  to  honour  above  gain, 
when  they  stand  in  competition;  to  despise  every  advan- 

1  All  the  examples  in  this  page  are  from  Beadnell,  pp.  1 10-14. 


126       A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 

tage  which  cannot  be  attained  without  dishonest  arts; 
to  brook  no  meanness,  and  stoop  to  no  dissimulation, 
—  are  the  indications  of  a  great  mind,  the  presages  of 
future  eminence  and  usefulness  in  life. 

THE   COLON 

This  point  marks  an  abrupt  pause  before 
a  further  but  connected  statement :  — 

In  business  there  is  something  more  than  barter, 
exchange,  price,  payment:  there  is  a  sacred  faith  of 
man  in  man. 

Study  to  acquire  a  habit  of  thinking:  no  study  is  more 
important. 

Always  remember  the  ancient  maxim:  Know  thyself. 

THE  PERIOD  OR  FULL   STOP 

Examples  of  its  ordinary  use:  — 

Fear  God.    Honour  the  King.   Pray  without  ceasing.1 

There  are  thoughts  and  images  flashing  across  the 

mind  in  its  highest  moods,  to  which  we  give  the  name 

of  inspiration.    But  whom  do  we  honour  with  this  title 

of  the  inspired  poet  ?  ' 

THE  NOTE  OF  INTERROGATION 

Examples  of  its  use  in  sentences  not 
printed  in  quotation  marks :  — 

What  does  the  pedant  mean? 
1  All  the  examples  in  this  page  are  from  Beadnell. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     127 

Shall  little,  haughty  ignorance  pronounce 
His  work  unwise,  of  which  the  smallest  part 
Exceeds  the  narrow  vision  of  the  mind? 

Was  the  prisoner  alone  when  he  was  apprehended? 
Is  he  known  to  the  police  ?  Has  he  any  regular  occupa- 
tion ?  Where  does  he  dwell  ?  What  is  his  name  ? 

Cases  where  the  note  of  interrogation  need 
not  be  used :  — 

The  Cyprians  asked  me  why  I  wept. 
I  was  asked  if  I  would  stop  for  dinner. 

THE   NOTE  OF   EXCLAMATION 

Examples  of  its  ordinary  use :  — 

Hail,  source  of  Being!  universal  Soul! 

How  mischievous  are  the  effects  of  war! 

O  excellent  guardian  of  the  sheep!  —  a  wolfl 

Alas  for  his  poor  family! 

Alas,  my  noble  boy!  that  thou  shouldst  die! 

Ah  me!  she  cried,  and  waved  her  lily  hand. 

0  despiteful  love!  unconstant  womankind! 

MARKS  OF  PARENTHESIS 

Examples :  — 

1  have  seen  charity  (if  charity  it  may  be  called)  insult 
with  an  air  of  pity.1 

Left  now  to  himself  (malice  could  not  wish  him  a 
worse  adviser),  he  resolves  on  a  desperate  project.1 

1  Beadnell. 


128       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Death  onward  comes, 
With  hasty  steps,  though  unperceived  and  silent. 
Perhaps  (alarming  thought!),  perhaps  he  aims 
Ev'n  now  the  fatal  blow  that  ends  my  life.1 


THE   DASH 

Em  rules  or  dashes  —  in  this  and  the  next 
line  an  example  is  given  —  are  often  used  to 
show  that  words  enclosed  between  them  are 
to  be  read  parenthetically.  Thus  a  verbal 
parenthesis  may  be  shown  by  punctuation 
in  three  ways:  by  em  dashes,  by  (  ),  or  by 
commas.2 

At  the  end  of  break-lines  in  conversa- 
tion and  similar  matter,  insert  a  dash  to 
mark  continuation,  as  well  as  the  natural 
point. 

An  em  rule  should  also  be  inserted  at  the 
end  of  a  note  before  an  authority,  and  at 
the  end  of  a  side-heading. 

1  Beadnell,  pp.  119-20. 

2  Some  writers  mark  this  form  of  composition  quite  arbitrarily. 
For  instance,  Charles  Dickens  uses  colons:  'As  he  sat  down  by 
the  old  man's  side,  two  tears:  not  tears  like  those  with  which 
recording  angels  blot  their  entries  out,  but  drops  so  precious  that 
they  use  them  for  their  ink:  stole  down  his  meritorious  cheeks.' 
—  Martin  Chuzzlezvit,  Oxford  ed.,  p.  581. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     129 

The  dash  is  used  to  mark  an  interruption 
or  breaking  off  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence.1 

MARKS    OF    OMISSION 

To  mark  omitted  words  three  points  .  .  . 
(not  asterisks)  separated  by  en  quadrats 
are  sufficient;  and  the  practice  should  be 
uniform  throughout  the  work.  Where  full 
lines  are  required  to  mark  a  large  omission, 
real  or  imaginary,  the  spacing  between  the 
marks  should  be  increased;  but  the  com- 
positor should  in  this  case  also  use  full  points 
and  not  asterisks. 

PUNCTUATION  MARKS  GENERALLY 

The  following  summary  is  an  attempt  to 
define  in  few  words  the  meaning  and  use  of 
punctuation  marks  (the  capitals  are  only 
mine  by  adoption) :  — 

A  Period  marks  the  end  of  a  sentence. 

1  There  is  one  case,  and  only  one,  of  an  em  rule  being  used 
in  the  Bible  (A.V.),  viz.  in  Exod.  sxxii.  32;  where,  I  am  told 
by  the  Rev.  Professor  Driver,  it  is  correctly  printed,  to  mark 
what  is  technically  called  an  <aposiopesis,)  i.  e.  a  sudden  silence. 
The  ordinary  mark  for  such  a  case  is  a  2-em  rule.  —  H.  H. 


130      A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

A  Colon  is  at  the  transition  point  of  the 
sentence. 

A  Semicolon  separates  different  state- 
ments. 

A  Comma  separates  clauses,  phrases,  and 
particles. 

A  Dash  marks  abruptness  or  irregularity. 

An  Exclamation  marks  surprise. 

An  Interrogation  asks  a  question  for 
answer. 

An  Apostrophe  marks  elisions  or  pos- 
sessive case. 

Quotation  marks  define  quoted  words. 

Parentheses  enclose  interpolations  in  the 
sentence. 

Brackets  enclose  irregularities  in  the 
sentence.1 

QUOTATION     MARES,     OR      '  INVERTED     COMMAS  '      (SO- 
CALLED) 

Single  'quotes'  are  to  be  used  for  the 
first  quotation;  then  double  for  a  quotation 
within  a  quotation. 

Whenever  a  poetic  quotation,  whether  in 

1  De  Vinne,  Correct  Composition,  p.  288. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     131 

the  same  type  as  the  text  or  not,  is  given 
a  line  (or  more)  to  itself,  it  is  not  to  be 
placed  within  quotation  marks;  but  when 
the  line  of  poetry  runs  on  with  the  prose  — 
or  when  all  is  prose  and  all  runs  on  —  then 
quotation  marks  are  to  be  used. 

All  signs  of  punctuation  used  with  words 
in  quotation  marks  must  be  placed  according 
to  the  sense.  If  an  extract  ends  with  a  point, 
then  let  that  point  be,  as  a  rule,1  included 
before  the  closing  quotation  mark;  but  not 
otherwise.  This  is  an  important  direction 
for  the  compositor  to  bear  in  mind;  and 
he  should  examine  the  examples  which  are 
given  in  the  pages  which  follow :  — 

'The  passing  crowd'  is  a  phrase  coined  in  the  spirit 
of  indifference.  Yet,  to  a  man  of  what  Plato  calls  '  uni- 
versal sympathies',  and  even  to  the  plain,  ordinary 
denizens  of  this  world,  what  can  be  more  interesting 
than  'the  passing  crowd'?  2 

1  I  say  'as  a  rule',  because  if  such  a  sentence  as  that  which 
follows  occurred  in  printing  a  secular  work,  the  rule  would  have 
to  be  broken.    De  Vinne  prints:  — 

'  In  the  New  Testament  we  have  the  following  words:  "Jesus 
answered  them,  'Is  it  not  written  in  your  law,  "I  said,  'Ye  are 
gods'"?""    [H.  H.] 

2  Beadnell,  p.  116. 


132       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

If  the  physician  sees  you  eat  anything  that  is  not 
good  for  your  body,  to  keep  you  from  it  he  cries,  '  It  is 
poison! '    If  the  divine  sees  you  do  anything  that  is  hurt- 
ful for  your  soul,  he  cries,  '  You  are  lost! '  ' 
'  Why  does  he  use  the  word   "  poison"  ?  ' 
But  I  boldly  cried  out,  'Woe  unto  this  city! '  2 
Alas,  how  few  of  them  can  say,  '  I  have  striven  to  the 
very  utmost ' !  2 

How  fearful  was  the  cry:  '  Help,  or  we  perish'! 2 

Thus,  notes  of  exclamation  and  interroga- 
tion are  sometimes  included  in  and  some- 
times follow  quotation  marks,  as  in  sentences 
above,  according  to  whether  their  applica- 
tion is  merely  to  the  words  quoted  or  to 
the  whole  sentence  of  which  they  form  a 
part. 

In  regard  to  the  use  of  commas  and  full 
points  with  'turned  commas',  the  general 
practice  has  hitherto  been  different.  When 
either  a  comma  or  a  full  point  is  required 
at  the  end  of  a  quotation,  the  almost  uni- 
versal custom  at  the  present  time  is  for  the 
printer  to  include  that  comma  or  full  point 
within  the  quotation  marks  at  the  end  of  an 
extract,  whether  it  forms  part  of  the  origi- 

1  Beadnell,  p.  126.  2  Allardyce,  p.  74. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     133 

nal  extract  or  not.  Even  in  De  Vinne's 
examples,  although  he  says  distinctly,  'The 
proper  place  of  the  closing  marks  of  quo- 
tation should  be  determined  by  the  quoted 
words  only,'  no  instance  can  be  found  of  the 
closing  marks  of  quotation  being  placed  to 
precede  a  comma  or  a  full  point.  Some 
writers  wish  to  exclude  the  comma  or  full 
point  when  it  does  not  form  part  of  the 
original  extract,  and  to  include  it  when  it 
does  form  part  of  it;  and  this  is  doubtless 
correct. 

There  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  perpetu- 
ating a  bad  practice.  So,  unless  the  author 
wishes  to  have  it  otherwise,  in  all  new  works 
the  compositor  should  place  full  points  and 
commas  according  to  the  examples  which 
follow :  — 

We  need  not  '  follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil'. 

No  one  should  '  follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil',  as  the 
Scripture  says. 

Do  not  '  follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil';  on  the  con- 
trary, do  what  is  right. 

And  proceed  in  the  same  manner  with 
other  marks  of  punctuation. 


134       -4  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

POINTS   IN  TITLE-PAGES 

All  points  are  to  be  omitted  from  the 
ends  of  lines  in  titles,  half-titles,  page-head- 
ings, and  cross-headings,  in  Clarendon  Press 
works,  unless  a  special  direction  is  given 
to  the  contrary. 

PUNCTUATION  MARKS   AND  REFERENCES   TO  FOOTNOTES 
IN  JUXTAPOSITION 

The  relation  of  these  to  each  other  is 
dealt  with  on  p.  136.  Examples  of  the  right 
practice  are  to  be  found  on  many  pages 
of  the  present  work. 

FIGURES  AND  NUMERALS 

IN  ARABIC  OR  ROMAN 

Nineteenth  century,  not  19th  century. 

The  following  rule  should  apply  only  to 
specific  numbers :  — 

Figures  to  be  used  for  money,  weight,  or 
measure.  In  other  cases,  numbers  under  100 
to  be  in  words;  but  print  '90  to  100',  not 
'ninety  to  100 \ 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     135 
Spell  out  in  such  instances  as  — 

•  With  God  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  one  day ' ; 
'  I  have  said  so  a  hundred  times'. 

Insert  commas  with  four  or  more  than  four 
figures,  as  7,642;  but  not  in  dates,  as  1893; 
nor  in  pagination,  even  though  there  may  be 
more  than  three  figures. 

Roman  numerals  to  be  preferred  in  such 
cases  as  Henry  VIII,  &c.  —  which  should 
never  be  divided;  and  should  be  followed 
by  a  full  point  only  when  the  letters  end 
a  sentence.  If,  however,  the  author  prefers 
the  full  title,  use  'Henry  the  Eighth',  not 
'Henry  the  Vlllth'. 

Use  a  decimal  point  ( •)  to  express  decimals, 
as  7-06.  But  when  the  time  of  day  is  in- 
tended to  be  shown,  the  full  point  (.)  is  to  be 
used,  as  4.30  a.  m. 

Do  not  print  May  19th,  1862,  nor  19  May 
1862,  but  May  19,   1862. 1     In  descriptive 

1  Dr.  J.  A.  H.Murray  says, '  This  is  not  logical:  19  May  1862 
is.  Begin  at  day,  ascend  to  month,  ascend  to  year;  not  begin 
at  month,  descend  to  day,  then  ascend  to  year.'  (But  I  fear  we 
must  continue  for  the  present  to  print  May  19,  1862:  authors 
generally  will  not  accept  the  logical  form.  —  H.  H.) 


136       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

writing  the  author's  phraseology  should  be 
followed;  e.g.  'On  the  first  of  May  the 
army  drew  near';  not  'On  May  1  the  army 
drew  near'. 

To  represent  pagination  or  an  approxi- 
mate date,  use  the  least  number  of  figures 
possible ;   for  example,  print :  — 

pp.  322-30;  pp.  322-4,  not  pp.  322-24; 

1897-8,  not  1897-98  (use  en  rules). 

In  b.  c.  references,  however,  always  put 
the  full  date,  viz.  b.  c.  185-122. 

Print:  pp.  16-18,  not  pp.  16-8;  and  not 
from  1672-74,  but  from  1672  to  1674. 

When  preliminary  pages  are  referred  to 
by  lower-case  roman  numerals,  no  full  points 
should  be  used  after  the  numerals.  Print:  — 

p.  ii,  pp.  iii-x;  not  p.  ii.,  pp.  iii.-x. 

When  references  are  made  to  two  succes- 
sive text-pages  print :  pp.  6,  7,  if  the  subject 
is  disconnected  in  the  two  pages.  But  if  the 
subject  is  continuous  from  one  page  to  the 
other,  then  print  pp.  6-7. 

Begin  numbered  paragraphs:  1.  2.  &c; 
and  clauses  in  paragraphs:   (1)  (2)  (3),  &c. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     137 

If  Greek  or  roman  lower-case  letters  are 
written,  the  compositor  must  follow  copy. 
Roman  numerals  (I.  II.  III.)  are  usually 
reserved  for  chapters  or  important  sections. 
References  in  the  text  to  footnotes  should 
be  made  by  superior  figures  —  which  are 
to  be  placed,  as  regards  punctuation  marks, 
according  to  the  sense.  If  a  single  word, 
say,  is  extracted  and  referred  to,  the  reference 
must  be  placed  immediately  after  the  word 
extracted  and  before  the  punctuation  mark. 
But  if  an  extract  be  made  which  includes 
a  complete  sentence  or  paragraph,  then  the 
reference  mark  must  be  placed  outside  the 
last  punctuation  mark.  Asterisks,  superior 
letters,  &c,  may  be  used  in  special  cases. 

ERRATA ;   ERRATUM 

Do  not  be  guilty  of  the  absurd  mistake  of 
printing  'Errata'  as  a  heading  for  a  single 
correction.  When  a  list  of  errors  has  been 
dealt  with,  by  printing  cancel  pages  and 
otherwise,  so  that  only  one  error  remains, 
take  care  to  alter  the  heading  from  '  Errata ' 


138       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

to  'Erratum'.    The  same  remarks  apply  to 
Addenda  and  Addendum,  Corrigenda  and 


Corrigendum. 

A  or  AN 

a  European 

a  universal 

a  ewe 

a  university 

a  ewer 

a  useful 

a  herb 

a  usurper 

a  herbal 

an  habitual l 

a  heroic 

an  heir 

a  hospital 

an  heirloom 

a  humble 

an  historical 

a  unanimous 

an  honest 

a  uniform 

an  honour 

a  union 

an  hotel 

a  unique 

an  hour 

NOR  and  OR 

Print:  (1)  Neither  one  nor  the  other; 
neither  Jew  nor  Greek;  neither  Peter  nor 
James.  (2)  Either  one  or  the  other;  either 
Jew  or  Greek;  either  Peter  or  James. 

Never  print:  Neither  one  or  the  other; 
neither  Peter  or  James;  —  but  when  the  sen- 

1  This  is  in  accordance  with  what  seems  to  be  the  prepon- 
derance of  modern  usage.  Originally  the  cover  of  the  New 
English  Dictionary  had  'a  historical',  and  the  whole  question 
will  be  found  fully  treated  in  the  N.  E.  D.,  arts.  A,  An,  and  H. 
—  H.  H. 


English  Spelling,  Punctuation,  etc.     139 

tence  is  continued  to  a  further  comparison, 
nor  and  or  must  be  printed  (in  the  continua- 
tion) according  to  the  sense.1 

Likewise  note  that  the  verb  should  be  in 
the  singular,  as  '  Neither  Oxford  nor  Reading 
is  stated  to  have  been  represented'. 

POSSESSIVE   CASE   OF  PROPER  NAMES 

Use  's  for  the  possessive  case  in  English 
names  and  surnames  whenever  possible; 
i.e.  in  all  monosyllables  and  disyllables, 
and  in  longer  words  accented  on  the  penult; 
as  — 

Augustus's  Hicks's  Thomas's 

Charles's  St.  James's  Square  Zacharias's 

Cousins's  Nicodemus's  St.  Thomas's 

Gustavus's  Jones's  Thoms's 

1  The  necessity  of  giving  strict  attention  to  this  rule  was  once 
exemplified  in  my  experience,  when  the  printing  of  a  fine  quarto 
was  passing  through  my  hands  in  1882.  The  author  desired  to 
say  in  the  preface, '  The  writer  neither  dares  nor  desires  to  claim 
for  it  the  dignity  or  cumber  it  with  the  difficulty  of  an  historical 
nover  (Lorna  Doom,  by  R.  D.  Blackmore,  410,  1883).  The 
printer's  reader  inserted  a  letter  n  before  the  or;  the  author 
deleted  the  n,  and  thought  he  had  got  rid  of  it;  but  at  the  last 
moment  the  press  reader  inserted  it  again;  and  the  word  was 
printed  as  nor,  to  the  exasperation  of  the  author,  who  did  not 
mince  his  words  when  he  found  out  what  had  happened. 
—  H.  H. 


140       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

In  longer  names,  not  accented  on  the 
penult,  's  is  also  preferable,  though  '  is  here 
admissible;  e.g.  Theophilus's. 

In  ancient  classical  names,  use  's  with 
every  monosyllable,  e.g.  Mars's,  Zeus's. 
Also  with  disyllables  not  in  -es ;   as  — 

Judas's  Marcus's  Venus's 

But  poets  in  these  cases  sometimes  use  s' 
only;  and  Jesus'  is  a  well-known  liturgical 
archaism.  In  quotations  from  Scripture 
follow  the  Oxford  standard.1 

Ancient  words  in  -es  are  usually  written 
-es'  in  the  possessive,  e.g. 

Ceres'  rites  Xerxes'  fleet 

This  form  should  certainly  be  used  in  words 
longer  than  two  syllables,  e.g. 

Arbaces'  Miltiades' 

Aristides'  Themistocles' 

To  pronounce  another  's  (  =  es)  after  these 
is  difficult. 

This  applies  only  to  ancient  words.  One 
writes  —  Moses'  law;  and  I  used  to  alight 
at  Moses's  for  the  British  Museum. 

1  See  p.  89  (note).  —  H.  H. 


French  Spelling,  etc.  141 

As  to  the  latter  example,  Moses,  the  tailor, 
was  a  modern  man,  like  Thomas  and  Lewis; 
and  in  using  his  name  we  follow  modern 
English  usage. 

J.  A.  H.  M. 

WORKS  IN  THE   FRENCH  LANGUAGE 

The  English  compositor  called  upon  to 
set  works  in  the  French  language  will  do 
well,  first  of  all,  to  make  a  careful  exami- 
nation of  some  examples  from  the  best 
French  printing-offices.  He  will  find  that 
French  printers  act  on  rules  differing  in 
many  points  from  the  rules  to  which  the 
English  compositor  is  accustomed;  and  he 
will  not  be  able  to  escape  from  his  difficulties 
by  the  simple  expedient  of  'following  copy'. 

For  works  in  the  French  language,  such 
as  classical  textbooks  for  use  in  schools, 
the  English  compositor  generally  gets  re- 
print copy  for  the  text  and  MS.  for  the 
notes.  It  is,  as  a  rule,  safe  for  him  to  follow 
the  reprint  copy;  but  there  is  this  difficulty, 
that  when  the  work  forms  part  of  a  series,  it 


142       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

does  not  always  happen  that  the  reprint  copy 
for  one  book  corresponds  in  typographical 
style  with  reprint  copy  for  other  works  in  the 
same  series.  Hence  he  should  apply  himself 
diligently  to  understand  the  following  rules ; 
and  should  hunt  out  examples  of  their  applica- 
tion, so  that  they  may  remain  in  his  memory. 
i.  Capital  and  lower-case  letters.  —  In  the 
names  of  authors  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, which  are  preceded  by  an  article,  the 
latter  should  commence  with  a  capital  letter: 
La  Fontaine,  La  Bruyere.2  Exceptions  are 
names  taken  from  the  Italian,  thus :  le  Tasse, 
le  Dante,  le  Correge.  As  to  names  of  per- 
sons, the  usage  of  the  individuals  them- 
selves should  be  adopted:  de  la  Bruyere 
(his  signature  at  the  end  of  a  letter),  De  la 
Fontaine    (end   of  fable   'Le  Lievre   et  la 

1  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  M.  Desire  Greffier,  author  of  Les 
Regies  de  la  composition  typographique,  a  Vusage  des  composi- 
teurs, des  correcteurs  et  des  imprimeurs,  and  to  his  publisher, 
M.  Arnold  Muller,  of  the  Imprimerie  des  Beaux-Arts,  36  Rue 
de  Seine,  Paris,  for  permission  to  translate  and  make  extracts 
from  this  useful  brochure.  —  H.  H. 

2  M.  Greffier  carefully  explains  that  in  putting  capitals  to  the 
articles  in  the  case  of  these  and  similar  names  he  differs  from 
the  Academie  frangaise.  —  H.  H. 


French  Spelling,  etc.  143 

Tortue'),  Lamartine,  Le  Verrier,  Maxime 
Du  Camp.  In  names  of  places  the  article 
should  be  small:  le  Mans,  le  Havre,  which 
the  Academie  adopts;  la  Ferte,  with  no 
hyphen  after  the  article,  but  connected  by 
a  hyphen  with  different  names  of  places,  as 
la  Ferte-sous-Jouarre. 

Volumes,  books,  titles,  acts  of  plays,  the 
years  of  the  Republican  Calendar,  are  put 
in  large  capitals:  An  IV,  acte  V,  tome  VI; 
also  numerals  belonging  to  proper  names: 
Louis  XII;  and  the  numbers  of  the  arron- 
dissements  of  Paris:  le  XVe  arrondissement. 

Scenes  of  plays,  if  there  are  no  acts,  are 
also  put  in  large  caps.:  Les  Precieuses  ridi- 
cules, sc.  V;  also  chapters,  if  they  form 
the  principal  division  :  Joseph,  ch.  VI.  If, 
however,  scenes  of  plays  and  chapters  are 
secondary  divisions,  they  are  put  in  small 
capitals:  Le  Cid,  a.  I,  sc.  11;  Histoire  de 
France,  liv.  VI,  ch.  vn.  The  numbers  of 
centuries  are  generally  put  in  small  capitals: 
au  xixe  siecle. 

The  first  word  of  a  title  always   takes 


144       -4  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

a  capital  letter:  J'ai  vu  jouer  Les  Femmes 
savantes ;  on  lit  dans  Le  Radical.  If  a  sub- 
stantive in  a  title  immediately  follows  Le, 
La,  Les,  Un,  Une,  it  is  also  given  a  capi- 
tal letter,  thus:  Les  Precieuses  ridicules.  If 
the  substantive  is  preceded  by  an  adjective, 
this  also  receives  a  capital  letter:  La  Folk 
Journee;  if,  however,  the  adjective  follows, 
it  is  in  lower-case:  VAge  ingrat.  If  the 
title  commences  with  any  other  word  than 
le,  la,  les,  un,  une,  or  an  adjective,  the  words 
following  are  all  in  lower-case:  De  la  terre 
a  la  lune ;   Sur  la  piste. 

In  titles  of  fables  or  of  dramatic  works 
the  names  of  the  characters  are  put  with 
capital  initials:  Le  Renard  et  les  Raisins; 
Le  Lion  et  le  Rat ;  Marceau,  ou  les  Enfants 
de  la  Republique. 

In  catalogues  or  indexes  having  the  first 
word  or  words  in  parentheses  after  the  sub- 
stantive commencing  the  line,  the  first  word 
thus  transposed  has  a  capital  letter:  Homme 
(Faiblesse  de  1');  Honneur  (L');  Niagara 
(Les  Chutes  du). 


French  Spelling,  etc.  145 

If  the  words  in  parentheses  are  part  of  the 
title  of  a  work,  the  same  rule  is  followed 
as  to  capitals  as  above  given:  Heloise  (La 
Nouvelle);   Mort  (La  Vie  ou  la). 

The  words  saint,  sainte,  when  referring  to 
the  saints  themselves,  have,  except  when  com- 
mencing a  sentence,  always  lower-case  ini- 
tials: saint  Louis,  saint  Paul,  sainte  Cecile. 
But  when  referring  to  names  of  places,  feast- 
days,  &c,  capital  letters  and  hyphens  are 
used:  Saint-Domingue,  la  Saint- Jean.  (See 
also,  as  to  abbreviations   of  Saint,  Sainte, 

P.  1 55-) 

I.  Use  capital  letters  as  directed  below: 

(1)  Words  relating  to  God:  le  Seigneur, 
l'Etre  supreme,  le  Tres-Haut,  le  Saint-Esprit. 

(2)  In  enumerations,  if  each  one  com- 
mences a  new  line,  a  capital  is  put  imme- 
diately after  the  figure: 

1°  L'Europe. 
2°  L'Asie,   &c. 

But  if  the  enumeration  is  run  on,  lower-case 
letters  are  used:  1°  l'Europe,  2°  l'Asie,  &c. 
If,  in  works  divided  into  articles,  the  first 


146       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

article  is  put  in  full  (thus:  Article  premier), 
those  that  follow  may  be  in  figures  and 
abbreviated  (as  Art.  2). 

(3)  Words  representing  abstract  qualities 
personified :  La  Renommee  ne  vient  souvent 
qu'apres  la  Mort. 

(4)  The  planets  and  constellations:  Mars, 
le  Belier. 

(5)  Religious  festivals:  la  Pentecote. 

(6)  Historical  events:  la  Revolution. 

(7)  The  names  of  streets,  squares,  &c: 
la  rue  des  Mauvais-Garcons,  la  place  du 
Trone,  la  fontaine  des  Innocents. 

(8)  The  names  of  public  buildings, 
churches,  &c. :  l'Opera,  l'Odeon,  eglise  de 
la  Trinite. 

(9)  Names  relating  to  institutions,  public 
bodies,  religious,  civil,  or  military  orders 
(but  only  the  word  after  the  article) :  l'Aca- 
demie  francaise,  la  Legion  d'honneur,  le 
Conservatoire  de  musique. 

(10)  Surnames  and  nicknames,  without 
hyphens:   Louis  le  Grand. 

(n)  Honorary  titles:  Son  Eminence, 
Leurs  Altesses. 


French  Spelling,  etc.  147 

(12)  Adjectives  denoting  geographical  ex- 
pressions:  la  mer  Rouge,  le  golfe  Persique. 

(13)  The  names  of  the  cardinal  points  de- 
signating an  extent  of  territory:  l'Amerique 
du  Nord;  aller  dans  le  Midi.    (See  II.  (2).) 

(14)  The  word  Eglise,  when  it  denotes  the 
Church  as  an  institution:  1' Eglise  catholique; 
but  when  relating  to  a  building,  eglise  is 
put. 

(15)  The  word  Etat  when  it  designates 
the  nation,  the  country:  La  France  est  un 
puissant  Etat. 

II.  Use  lower-case  initials  for  — 

(1)  The  names  of  members  of  religious 
orders:  un  carme  (a  Carmelite),  un  templier 
(a  Templar).  But  the  orders  themselves  take 
capitals :  l'ordre  des  Templiers,  des  Carmes. 

(2)  The  names  of  the  cardinal  points:  le 
nord,  le  sud.    But  see  I.  (13)  above. 

(3)  Adjectives  belonging  to  proper  names: 
la  langue  francaise,  l'ere  napoleonienne. 

(4)  Objects  named  from  persons  or  places: 
un  quinquet  (an  argand  lamp);  un  verre  de 
champagne. 


148       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

(5)  Days  of  the  week  —  lundi,  mardi; 
names  of  months  —  juillet,  aout. 

1.  In  Plays  the  dramatis  personae  at  the 
head  of  scenes  are  put  in  large  capitals,  and 
those  not  named  in  even  small  capitals :  — 

SCENE  V. 
TRIBOULET,  BLANCHE,  hommes, 

FEMMES   DU   PEUPLE. 

In  the  dialogues  the  names  of  the  speakers 
are  put  in  even  small  capitals,  and  placed  in 
the  centre  of  the  line.  The  stage  directions 
and  the  asides  are  put  in  smaller  type,  and 
are  in  the  text,  if  verse,  in  parentheses  over 
the  words  they  refer  to.  If  there  are  two 
stage  directions  in  one  and  the  same  line,  it 
will  be  advisable  to  split  the  line,  thus:  — 

(Revenu  sur  ses  pas.) 
Oublions-les!  restons.  — 

(II  s'assied  sur  un  banc.) 
Sieds-toi  sur  cette  pierre. 

Directions  not  relating  to  any  particular 
words  of  the  text  are  put,  if  short,  at  the 
end  of  the  line :  — 

Celui  que  Ton  croit  mort  n'est  pas  mort.  —  Le 
voici!  (Etonnement  gdndral.) 


French  Spelling,  etc.  149 

2.  Accented  Capitals.  —  With  one  excep- 
tion accents  are  to  be  used  with  capital  letters 
in  French.  The  exception  is  the  grave  accent 
on  the  capital  letter  A  in  such  lines  as  — 

A  la  porte  de  la  maison,   &c; 
A  cette  epoque,   &c; 

and  in  display  lines  such  as  — 

FECAMP   A   GENEVE 
MACHINES   A  VAPEUR. 

In  these  the  preposition  A  takes  no  accent; 
but  we  must,  to  be  correct,  print  Etienne, 
Etretat;  and  depot,  eveque,  prevot  in 
cap.  lines.1 

1  M.  Reyne,  proof-reader  in  the  National  Government 
Printing-Office,  Paris,  tells  me  that  there  is  no  uniformity  of 
practice  in  French  printing-offices  in  regard  to  the  accentuation 
of  capital  letters  generally,  although  there  is  a  consensus  of 
opinion  as  to  retaining  accents  for  the  letter  E.  As  to  the  grave 
accent  on  the  capital  letter  A,  the  two  extracts  which  follow  are 
sufficient  authority:  — 

'  The  letter  A,  when  a  capital,  standing  for  a,  is  never  accented 
by  French  printers.  This,  I  know,  is  a  rule  without  exception; 
and  one  of  the  reasons  given  is  that  the  accented  capital  is 
"  ugly'-  A  better  reason  is  that  the  accent  often  "breaks  off  ".' 
—  Mr.  Leon  Delbos,  M.A.,  Instructor  in  French  to  Royal 
Naval  Cadets  in  H.M.S.  'Britannia". 

'  The  practice  of  omitting  the  grave  accent  on  the  preposition 
A  (whatever  the  reason  of  it  may  be)  is  all  but  universal.''  — 
Mr.  E.  G.  W.  Braunholtz,  M.  A.,  Ph.  D.,  Reader  in  the  Ro- 
mance Languages  in  the  University  of  Cambridge.  [H.  H.] 


150       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

3.  The  Grave  and  Acute  Accents.  — There 
has  been  an  important  change  in  recent 
years  as  to  the  use  of  the  grave  and  acute 
accents  in  French.  It  has  become  customary 
to  spell  with  a  grave  accent  (")  according  to 
the  pronunciation,  instead  of  with  an  acute 
accent  ('),  certain  words  such  as  college 
(instead  of  college),  avenement  (instead  of 
avenement),  &c.  The  following  is  a  list 
of  the  most  common:  — 


allege 

eVenement 

piege 

l'Ariege 

florilege 

privilege 

arpege 

grege 

sacrilege 

avenement 

lege 

sacrilegement 

barege 

Liege,  liege1 

siege 

college 

manege 

solfege 

Ie  Correge 

mege     [Norwege 

sortilege 

cortege 

la  Norvege  or 

sphege  3 

4.  Hyphens. — Names  of   places   contaim 
ing   an  article  or   the  prepositions    en,  de, 

1  'The  rule  about  e  instead  of  e,  as  in  college  instead  of 
college,  should  be  strictly  adhered  to,  as  it  now  is  by  most 
French  people.  However,  e  cannot  be  changed  into  e  unless  it 
have  that  sound;  hence  it  is  not  right  to  say  Liegeois,  for  the 
sound  is  that  of  e ;  but  Liege  is  correct.  Note  that  Liegeois 
takes  an  e  after  the  g.'  —  Mr.  Leon  Delbos. 

2  The  list  is  from  Gasc's  Dictionary  of  the  French  and  Eng- 
lish Languages:  G.  Bell  &  Sons,  1889. 


French  Spelling,  etc.  151 

should  have  a  hyphen  between  each  com- 
ponent part,  thus:  Saint- Germain-des-Pres, 
Saint- Valery-en-Caux,  although  the  Acade- 
mie  leaves  out  the  last  two  hyphens. 

Names  of  places,  public  buildings,  or 
streets,  to  which  one  or  more  distinguishing 
words  are  added,  take  hyphens:  Saint- 
Etienne-du-Mont,  Vitry-le-Francois,  rue  du 
Faubourg-Montmartre,  le  Pont-Neuf,  le 
Palais-Royal,  l'H6tel-de-la-Monnaie. 

In  numbers  hyphens  are  used  to  connect 
quantities  under  100:  e.g.  vingt-quatre; 
trois  cent  quatre-vingt-dix;  but  when  et 
joins  two  cardinal  numbers  no  hyphen  is 
used,  e.g.  vingt  et  un;  cinquante  et  un. 
But  print  vingt-et-unieme. 

5.  Spacing.  —  No  spaces  to  be  put  before 
the  'points  de  suspension',  i.e.  three  points 
close  together,  cast  in  one  piece,  denoting 
an  interruption  (...).  In  very  wide  spacing 
a  thin  space  may  be  put  before  a  comma1,  or 

1  The  English  practice,  never  to  put  a  space  before  a  comma, 
is  regarded  by  the  best  French  printers  as  bad.  'This  vicious 
practice''  (i.  e.  putting  no  space  before  a  comma),  says  M. 
Theotiste  Lefevre,  'which  appears  to  us  to  have  no  other  motive 


152       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

before  or  after  a  parenthesis  or  a  bracket. 
Colons,  metal-rules,  section-marks,  daggers, 
and  double-daggers  take  a  space  before  or 
after  them  exactly  as  words.  Asterisks  and 
superior  figures,  not  enclosed  in  parentheses, 
referring  to  notes,  take  a  thin  or  middle 
space  before  them.  Points  of  suspension 
are  always  followed  by  a  space.  For  guille- 
mets  see  pp.  160-3. 

A  space  is  put  after  an  apostrophe  follow- 
ing a  word  of  two  or  more  syllables  (as 
a  Frenchman  reckons  syllables,  e.g.  bonne 
is  a  word  of  two  syllables) :  — 

Bonn'  petite...     Aimab'  enfant!... 

Spaces  are  put  in  such  a  case  as  10  h. 
15  m.  10  s.  (10  hours  15  min.  10  sec),  also 
printed  10h  15m  10s. 

Chemical  symbols  are  not  spaced,  thus 
CIOHI2(OH)CO.OH. 

6.  Awkward  divisions:  abbreviated  words 
and  large  numbers  expressed  in  figures.  — 

than  the  negligence  of  the  compositor,  tends  unhappily, from  day 
to  day,  to  get  introduced  also  into  French  composition.'  —  Guide 
pratique  du  compositeur  et  de  rimpritneur  typographes  (p.  196,  w.), 
par  T.  Lefevre.    Paris,  Firmin-Didot,  1883.  —  H.  H. 


French  Spelling,  etc.  153 

One  should  avoid  ending  a  line  with 
an  apostrophe,  such  as:  Quoi  qu'  I  vous 
dites  ? 

If  a  number  expressed  in  figures  is  too 
long  to  be  got  into  a  line,  or  cannot  be  taken 
to  the  next  without  prejudice  to  the  spacing, 
part  of  the  number  should  be  put  as  a  word, 
thus:  100  mil-  |  lions. 

7.  Division  of  words.  —  Words  should  be 
divided  according  to  syllables,  as  in  what 
the  French  call  epellation  (i.  e.  syllabica- 
tion). Therefore  a  consonant  should  never  be 
separated  from  the  vowel  following.  Thus 
divide:  amou-reux,  cama-rade;  and  always 
take  over  vr :  li-vraison.  If  a  consonant  is 
doubled,  the  consonants  may  be  divided: 
mil-lion,  pil-lard,  in-nocent.  It  is  optional 
to  divide  ob-scurite  or  obs-curite,  according 
to  convenience.  Vowels  are  divided  only  in 
compound  words:  e.g.  extra-ordinaire;  not 
Mo-abite,  mo-yen. 

In  compound  words  an  apostrophe  may 
be  divided  from  a  consonant  following; 
thus:   grand'-mere,  grand'-route. 


154       A.  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Divide  sei-gneur,  indi-gnite  (gn  pronounced 
as  ni  in  'mania'),  i-  e.  take  gn  over. 

The  following  divisions  should  be  avoided : 
Ma-ximilien,  soi-xante,  Me-xique;  e-legant. 
In  a  narrow  measure  a  syllable  of  two  letters 
may  stand  at  the  end  of  a  line:  ce-pendant, 
in-decis;  but  a  syllable  of  two  letters  must 
not  be  taken  over  to  the  next  line;  there- 
fore £legan-ce,  adversi-te,  are  not  permis- 
sible; but  elegan-ces,  mar-que,  abri-cot,  are 
tolerated. 

Avoid  terminating  a  paragraph  with  only 
the  final  syllable  of  a  word  in  the  last  line. 

Verbs  taking  the  so-called  euphonic  t 
should  always  be  divided  before  the  latter, 
thus :  Viendra-  I  t-il  ? 

Avoid  dividing  abbreviated  words. 

Etymological  division  finds  no  favour  in 
French,  unless  it  is  in  accord  with  epellation, 
or  syllabication,  as  in  trans-porter,  trans- 
poser.    But  divide  transi-tion,  transi-ger. 

Mute  syllables  may  be  turned  over  to  the 
next  line,  thus:  ils  mar-quent,  les  hom-mes. 

8.  Abbreviations.  —  Such  words  as  article, 


French  Spelling,  etc.  155 

chapitre,  scene,  titre,  figure,  are  abbreviated 
only  when  in  parentheses,  as  references;  in 
the  text  they  are  put  in  full. 

Saint,  sainte,  when  they  occur  very  often, 
as  in  religious  works,  may  be  abbreviated, 
taking  a  capital  letter:  S.  Louis,  Ste.  Marie. 
But  not  when  they  form  part  of  the  name 
of  a  place,  e.g.  Saint-Germain-des-Pres;  in 
which  case  Saint-  and  Sainte-  take  a  capital 
and  are  followed  by  a  hyphen.1    (See  also 

P-  I45-) 
The  words  monsieur,  madame,   monsei- 

gneur,  messeigneurs,  messieurs,  mesdames, 
mademoiselle,  mesdemoiselles,  are  written 
in  full  and  all  in  lower-case  when  address- 
ing a  person:  Oui,  madame;  Non,  monsieur 
le  due.  Also  in  the  following  instances: 
J'espere  que  monseigneur  viendra;  j'ai  vu 
monsieur  votre  pere.  In  most  other  cases 
M.  (for  monsieur),  Mme  (for  madame),  Mgr. 
or  M&  (for  monseigneur),  and  so  on,  are 
used.  The  words  Sa  Majeste,  Son  Eminence, 

1  St-Germain,  Ste-Catherine,  l^glise  de  St-Sulpice,  St> 
Hilaire,  la  St- Jean,  are,  however,  met  with  in  railway  time- 
tables, &c. 


156       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Leurs  Altesses,  when  followed  by  another  title, 
are  put  as  initials,  thus  S.  M.  l'Empereur; 
but  not  otherwise. 

The  name  Jesus-Christ  is  abbreviated  only 
when  in  parentheses  after  a  date,  thus:  (337 
avant  J.-C).  This  is  also  frequently  printed 
337  A.J.C. 

Per  cent,  is  generally  put  0/0,  but  pour 
100,  p.  100,  and  %  are  also  used.  In  business 
letters  pour  cent  is  always  pour  %,  e.g. 
A  trente  jours,  3  pour  %  d'escompte. 

Other  examples  of  abbreviations :  — 


liv. 

(livre) 

c.-a-d 

.  (c'est-a-dire) 

ch. 

(chapitre) 

cie 

(compagnie) 

t. 

(tome) 

m. 

(metre) 

d° 

(ditto) 

1. 

(litre) 

f 

(folio) 

Dr 

(docteur) 

in-f° 

(in-folio) 

Me 

(maitre) 

in-8° 

(in-octavo) 

Mlle 

(mademoiselle) 

in-40 

(in-quarto) 

N.-S. 

J-C. 

ms. 

(manuscrit) 

(Notre-Seigneur) 

mss. 

(manuscrits) 

Jesus-Christ) 

n° 

(numero) 

Cte 

(comte) 

P.-S. 

(post-scriptum 

Mis 

(marquis) 

jer  ) 

yve 

(veuve) 

ler  \ 

(premier) 

S.A. 

V                     / 

(Son  Altesse) 

II,  2e 

(deuxieme) 

LL.  AA.  II.  (Leurs  Altesses 

etc. 

(et  cetera) 

Imperiales) 

French  Spelling,  etc.  157 

Put:  20  francs,  20  metres,  20  litres,  20 
milligrammes.  If,  however,  followed  by  frac- 
tions, then  put  — 

20  fr.  50  ^  f  20fr,50 

20  m.  50  I  J  20m,50 

20  1.    50  I       °r       I  2()1'50 

20  milligr.  50  J  ^  20millisr,50 

In  works  crowded  with  figures,  one  can 
even  put  — 

0m,5  ^  (  5  decimetres 

0m,15  V    for     <    15  centimetres 

0m,008  J  ^  8  millimetres 

The  cubic  metre  followed  by  a  fraction  is 
given  thus:  4mc,5co  or  4m3,5oo;  the  square 
metre  thus:   4mq,5oo  or  4™, 500. 

The  French  use  a  decimal  comma  instead 
of  a  decimal  point — 2,3  =  2-3. 

The  words  kilogrammes,  kilometres,  and 
kilogrammetres,  followed  by  fractions,  are 
given  thus:  50  kg.  30  or  50^,30;  5km.  3 
or  5km,3;   2  kgm.  4  or  2kgm,4. 

In  measures  of  the  metric  system  the  fol- 
lowing abbreviations  are  also  common :  — 

mq  =  metre  carre  mmq  =  millimetre  carre 

mm  =  millimetre  mmc  =  millimetre  cube 


158       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

9.  Numerals.  —  When  cardinal  numbers 
are  expressed  in  roman  lower-case  letters, 
the  final  unit  should  be  expressed  by  a  j, 
not  an  i,  thus:   ij,  iij,  vj,  viij. 

Numbers  are  put  in  full  if  only  occa- 
sionally occurring  in  the  text.  If  used 
statistically,  figures  are  used. 

Degrees  of  temperature  are  given  thus: 
150,  15  (in  English  150  15'). 

Age  or  the  time  of  day  must  be  given  in 
full:  huit  ans,  six  heures  (eight  years,  six 
o'clock). 

Dates,  figures,  &c,  are  put  in  full  in  legal 
documents:  l'an  mil  neuf  cent  quatre  (the 
year  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  four). 

One  should  not  put '  de  5  a  6,000  hommes ', 
but  'de  5,000  a  6,000  hommes'. 

Commas  in  figures  are  used  as  in  English, 
thus:  20,250^.25  or  20,250^,25.  But  dates, 
and  numbers  in  general,  are  put  without 
a  comma:  annee  1466;  page  1250;  Code 
civil,  art.  2000. 

Fractions  with  a  horizontal  stroke  are 
preferred    in    mathematical    and    scientific 


French  Spelling,  etc.  159 

works;   but  in  ordinary  works  the  diagonal 
stroke  is  used,  thus:  1/2,  2/3  (# »  # )■ 

10.  Roman  and  italics.  —  In  algebraical 
formulae  the  capital  letters  are  always  put 
in  roman  and  the  small  letters  in  italics. 
If,  however,  the  text  is  in  italics,  the  small 
letters  are  put  in  roman  type. 

The  titles  of  works,  of  plays,  of  journals, 
names  of  ships,  of  statues,  and  titles  of  tables 
mentioned  in  the  text,  are  put  in  italics;  thus 
La  piece  La  Chatte  blanche;  J'ai  vu  Les  Rois 
en  exil;  On  lit  dans  Le  Figaro;  le  journal 
Le  Temps;  le  transport  Bien-Hoa. 

Foreign  words  *  and  quotations  are,  as 
in  English,  italicized:  Agir  ab  irato ;  Cave 
canem  !  lisait-on... 

Superior  letters  in  words  italicized  should 
be  in  italics,  thus :  Histoire  de  Napoleon  I"'. 

11.  Reference  figures.  —  References  to 
notes  are  generally  rendered  thus:  (1),  or 
thus : ! .  Sometimes  an  asterisk  between 
parentheses  (*)  or  standing  alone  *,  or  italic 
superior  letters  (°),  are  used.     The  second 

1  That  is,  words  foreign  to  French.  —  H.  H. 


160       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

example  (*)  is  the  best  from  the  English  point 
of  view. 

The  figure  in  the  note  itself  is  put  either 
1.  or  (1)  or  l.  In  many  works  the  reference 
figure  is  put  1,  and  the  note-figure  1. 

12.  Metal-rules.  —  These  serve  in  French 
to  denote  conversational  matter,  and  take 
a  thick  space  (or  more,  if  necessary)  after 
them.  In  fact,  metal-rules,  as  in  German, 
always  have  a  space  before 'or  after,  and 
are  never  put  close  to  a  word  as  in  English. 
They  are  likewise  never  put  after  colons. 

They  are  also  used  to  give  more  force  to 
a  point:  II  avait  un  cceur  d'or,  —  mais  une 
tete  folle;  et  vraiment, — je  puis  le  dire, 
—  il  etait  d'un  caractere  tres  agreable. 

They  are  likewise  used,  as  in  English,  for 
intercalations  :  Cette  femme  —  etrangere 
sans  doute  —  etait  tres  agee. 

13.  Quotation  marks.  —  The  French  use 
special  quotations  marks  ((  »  (called 
guillemets).  A  guillemet  is  repeated  at  the 
head  of  every  subsequent  paragraph  belong- 
ing to  the  quotation. 


French  Spelling,  etc.  161 

In  conversational  matter,  guillemets  are 
sometimes  put  at  the  commencement  and 
end  of  the  remarks,  and  the  individual  utter- 
ances are  denoted  by  a  metal-rule  (with 
a  space  after).  But  it  is  more  common  to 
dispense  with  guillemets  altogether,  and  to 
denote  the  commencement  of  the  conversa- 
tion by  only  a  metal-rule.  This  is  an  impor- 
tant variation  from  the  English  method. 

If  the  ))  comes  after  points  de  suspension, 
a  middle  space  is  put  before  and  after  it :  — 

La  cour  a  decrete  qu'  «  attendu  l'urgence...  »  . 

If,  in  dialogues,  a  passage  is  quoted,  the 
(( is  put  before  the  metal- rule:  — 

«  —  Demain,  a  minuit,  nous  sortirons  enfin ! » 

In  tables  and  workings  the  ))  is  used  to 

denote  an  absent  quantity :  — 

125  .  15  130      » 

10      »  15  .  25 

If  a  sentence  contains  a  citation,  the  point 
at  the  end  of  the  latter  is  put  before  the )),  and 
the  point  belonging  to  the  sentence  after:  — 

«  Prenez  garde  au  chien!  »  ,  lisait-on  a  l'entree  des 


maisons  romaines. 


1 62       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

If  the  matter  quoted  ends  with  a  full 
stop,  and  a  comma  follows  in  the  sentence, 
the  full  stop  is  suppressed :  — 

«  C'est  par  le  sang  et  par  le  fer  que  les  fetats  gran- 
dissent  »  ,  a  dit  Bismarck. 

Also,  if  the  point  at  the  end  of  the  citation 
is  a  full  stop,  and  the  sentence  ends  with 
a  note  of  interrogation  or  exclamation,  the 
full  stop  is  suppressed :  — 

A-t-il  dit:  «  Je  reviendrai  »? 

If  citation  and  sentence  end  with  the 
same  point,  or  if  the  sentence  ends  with 
a  full  stop,  only  the  citation  is  pointed :  — 

Quel  bonheur  d'entendre:  «  Je  vous  aime!  » 
A-t-il  dit:  «  Qui  est  ici?  » 
II  a  dit:  (<  Je  viendrai.  » 

But  if  the  punctuation  of  the  citation 
differs  from  that  of  the  sentence,  both  points 
are  put : — 

A-t-il  dit :  «  Quel  grand  malheur !  »  ? 

Guillemets  should  have  before  and  after 
them  the  same  space  as  between  words. 
In  the  case  of  a  citation  within  a  citation, 


German  Spelling,  etc.  163 

the  «  must  stand  at  the  commencement  of 
each  line  of  the  enclosed  citation:  — 

On  lit  dans  Le  Radical:  «  Une  malheureuse  erreur 
a  e"te  commise  par  un  de  nos  artistes  du  boulevard. 
Ayant  a  dire:  «  Mademoiselle,  je  ne  veux  qu'un  mot 
«  de  vous !  »  ,  il  a  fait  entendre  ces  paroles :  «  Mademoi- 
«  selle,  je  ne  veux  qu'un  mou  de  veau!  » 

In  passages  quoted  down  the  side  put  an 
en  quad  after  the  «  commencing  each  line. 

Only  one  ))  is  put  at  the  end  of  two  cita- 
tions ending  simultaneously. 

WORKS   IN  THE   GERMAN   LANGUAGE 

English  compositors  called  upon  to  set 
up  German  should  have  clear  directions  be- 
forehand as  to  the  founts  to  be  used,  whether 
English  or  German.  If  the  MS.  is  in  well- 
written  German  script,  and  the  compositor 
is  acquainted  with  the  German  characters, 
he  will  find  little  difficulty  in  setting  this  up 
in  German  type.  It  is  otherwise  if  he  has 
to  set  German  in  its  own  characters  from 
MS.  in  Roman  characters.  This  is  owing 
principally  to  the  numerous  digraphs  and  the 


164       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

long  and  short  s's  used.   The  following  rules 
will  be  found  of  use  in  both  cases :  — 

1.  Capitals  and  lower-case.  —  All  German 
substantives  are  written  with  capital  initial 
letters;  and  capital  letters  are  also  used 
for  adjectives  in  geographical  designations, 
e.g.  ba§  (Ectfptfdje  9J?eer  (the  Caspian  Sea); 
but  as  a  rule  adjectives,  even  when  relating 
to  nationality,  have  lower-case  initials,  not 
excepting  titles  of  books,  &c,  thus:  bag 
beutfdje  23ater(anb,  bie  franjbfifdje  Sfebotution 
(the  German  Fatherland,  the  French  Re- 
volution). 

The  t)on  in  German  names  of  persons 
begins  with  a  small  letter  (unless  of  course 
when  it  commences  a  sentence),  e.g.  Men- 
tion 23iilott). 

The  Don  in  such  cases  requires  only  a 
thin  space  after  it:  ©cfdjrieben  toon  t)on9?id)ter 
(written  by  von  Richter). 

2.  The  Reformed  German  Spelling.  —  All 

words   ending    in  tlj,   as   Wlutt),  $lat§,  2But(), 

now  drop  the  f)  and  become  Wlut,  9iat,  2But, 

&c.   Zfyat  has  become  Zat,  £ljor  is  now  Zox, 


German  Spelling,  etc.  165 

tfjun  is   now  spelt  tun,  2Btflfitljr  has  become 
2BiUfur.   2Ie,  £)e,  Ue,  are  now  always  rendered 

%  £),  a. 

Three  identical  letters  should  not  come 
together.  Consequently  print  <2d)tffa()rt,  not 
©djifffaljrt  (but  in  dividing  print  (SdjtfHafyrt). 
The  plural  of  (See  is  no  longer  ©eeen,  but 
(Seen ;  in  narrow  measure  divide  <3ee*en. 

The  suffix  nufc  is  now  *tii$ :  £>tnberm'$.  3  1S 
often  used  for  (5,  thus:  ,3cntrum  f°r  Centrum. 

The  verbal  suffix  4ren  is  now  uniformly 
written  4eren,  thus:  abbieren,  fubtrafyieren,  mufti* 
pttgieren,  bttobteren. 

A  detailed  list  of  the  new  German  ortho- 
graphies *  may  be  obtained  through  any 
foreign  publisher.  Many  German  writers 
object  to  the  modern  spelling;  in  such  cases, 
of  course,  copy  should  be  followed. 

3.  Hyphens  in  German.  —  If  two  or  more 
words  follow  one  another,  relating  to  a  com- 
mon part  of  speech  with  which  they  form  a 
compound,  all  except  the  last  take  a  hyphen, 

1  A  very  useful  little  book  is  that  by  K.  Duden,  Meyer's 
Bibliographiscb.es  Institut,  Leipzig  and  Vienna,  price  3J.  — 
H.  H. 


1 66       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

thus:  £mt-  unb  ^ratnattenfabrifant  (hat  and  tie 
manufacturer) ;  Safe*,  93utter=  unb  9#ttd)borrate 
(cheese,  butter,  and  milk  stores). 

Note  that  compound  words  in  German 
are  now  printed  as  one  word. 

4.  Division  of  words  in  German.  —  Prefixes 
should  of  course  remain  intact,  such  as  an, 
auf,  ent,  emp,  tor,  iiber,  ger.  Thus:  an^fangen, 
auHafyren,  ent-gweien,  emp*ftnben,  t)or=rucfen,  ilBcr* 
reben,  ger=flo§en.  (See  under  paragraph  2  of 
this  section,  'Reformed  Spelling',  for  three 
identical  letters  coming  together.  See  also 
under  7,  n,  14.) 

5.  Spaced  words.  —  In  these  the  following 
compound  letters  should  never  be  spaced: 
tf),  <f,  ft,  ft,  6,  fe.  The  following  are  spaced: 
ff,  {t,  ft,  if.  That  is,  two  different  conso- 
nants coming  together  are  not  spaced;  but 
a  consonant  and  vowel,  and  double  conso- 
nants, are  to  be  spaced. 

6.  Prepositional  and  other  prefixes  in  Ger- 
man. —  When  auf  precedes  a  part  of  speech 
commencing  with  f,  the  two  f's  should  not 
form  one  letter.   Print  auf  fasten,  not  auffafjren. 


German  Spelling,  etc.  167 

So  also,  when  cms  is  prefix  to  a  part  of 
speech  beginning  with  an  f,  it  should  not 
form  with  the  latter  an  fj  or  ff  if  German 
type  is  used.  Print  auSfpredjen,  not  aufjprcdjen 
or  auffprecfjert. 

If  ent  precedes  a  part  of  speech  beginning 
with  1,  the  t  and  3  do  not  form  one  letter,  but 
remain  separate:  erttjroetert,  not  en^rociert. 

7.  Suffixes  fidj,  gig.  —  The  letter  (  in  the 
former  should  not  be  joined  to  a  preceding  f, 
nor  the  letter  3  in  the  latter  to  a  preceding  t 
Print  t)  em  erf  (id),  not  toerroerf(id) ;  adjtstg,  not 
adjfetg.  So  also,  in  dividing,  put  rjerroerf-Ud) 
(or  tier*toerf(td))  and  adjt^tg. 

8.  German  in  Roman  type.  —  In  roman 
type  ft  is  always  rendered  ss;  and  in  spaced 
words  all  letters  are  separated. 

9.  Metal-rules  in  German.  —  Spaces  are 
always  put  before  and  after  a  rule  in  a  sen- 
tence, wide  spaces  in  a  widely  spaced  line,  thin 
spaces  in  a  narrowly  spaced  one,  exactly  as 
with  words,  thus :  (Sr  fagte  —  ntdjt  ofrrte  ^aubem 
—  baft  cr  geljert  mitffe.1 

1  He  said  —  not  without  hesitation  —  that  he  must  depart. 


1 68       A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors 

Rules  are  not  put  after  colons. 

io.  Quotation  marks  in  German. — The 

commencement  of  a  quotation  is  indicated 
by  commas  followed  by  a  thin  space;  the 
close  by  turned  commas.  A  quotation  within 
a  quotation  is  usually  rendered  by  a  single 
roman  comma  at  commencement,  and  by 
a  turned  roman  comma  at  the  end  ';  thus: 
(Sr  fagte  mtr:  „  ©elje  nid)t  l)tn,  benn  e8  Ijeiftt,  baft  e8 
bort  t)on,@eiftern'fpult."2 

ii.  U.  —  This  is  always  printed  as  one 
letter  at  the  end  of  a  syllable  or  word,  as 
also  in  the  body  of  a  word  if  the  latter  is  not 
a  compound,  thus:  fdjatHog  (now,  however, 
written  fd)atfo§,  but  divided  fd)aU4oS);  toftK, 
fofl ;  tuoflen,  foflen.  But  in  compound  words, 
in  which  the  first  1  ends  a  syllable  and  the 
second  t  commences  the  next  one,  the  two 
t's  must  be  separated,  thus:  met(eid)t  (divided 
diel4eid)t). 

12..  ff,  ft,  gf.  —  All  three  in  roman  type 
=  ss.    The  first  (ff)  is  put  where  two  sylla- 

1  Single  German  commas  are,  however,  also  used. 

2  He  said  to  me,  'Do  not  go  there,  for  they  say  it  is  haunted 
by  "ghosts r'  \ 


German  Spelling,  etc.  169 

bles  come  together,  neither  of  which  gives 
sense  in  itself,  thus :  effen,  miiffen. 

For  the  second  (jj)  see  next  rule. 

The  third  (gf)  is  employed  when  the  first  5 
ends  one  syllable  and  the  second  commences 
the  next,  each  syllable  giving  sense  taken 
singly,  i.e.  in  compounds,  thus:  ($i3fd)oIIe 
(ice-block),  baSfetbe,  beSfelben. 

13.  f$.  —  The  employment  of  this  presents 
difficulty  without  a  knowledge  of  the  pro- 
nunciation of  the  language.  It  is  either 
preceded  by  a  long  vowel  in  the  body  of 
a  word,  or  stands  after  a  short  vowel  at 
the  end  of  a  word  or  syllable,  thus:  ftcjje, 
gtefjen,  SBlofte ;  fj&ftftdj,  mutmctfjltdj ;  9^uf?,  ®u§, 
§a^.  But  always:  miiffen,  w  iff  en,  laffen,  as 
short  vowels  precede  in  the  body  of  the 
word. 

14.  Double  letters.  —  d),  d,  ff,  ft  fl,  U,  ft,  ff,  ft, 
ft,  £.  No  triple  letters,  like  the  English  ffi,  ffl, 
are  used  in  German.  —  ffi,  ssi,  are  usually 
printed  ffi,  ffi,  as  Vfiffig,  btfftg;  ffi  is  printed  ffl, 
as  trefftid). 

As  regards  ft,  the  f  and  1  must  be  sepa- 


170       A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 

rated  if  the  latter  belongs  to  a  suffix,  thus: 
fd)taffo«,  not  fdjtafloS. 

i5«  \f  8.  —  The  long  s  is  used  at  the  com- 
mencement, the  short  s  at  the  end  of  syllables. 

16.  Abbreviations  in  German.  —  The  most 
common  are:  u.  f.  to.  ( =  unb  fo  toetter,  and  so 
on,  et  cetera);  3.  33.  ( =  311m  SBcifpiel,  for  exam- 
ple); b.  I).  (=  bag  Ijetfjt,  that  is  to  say);  b.  i. 
(=  ba§  tft,  that  is);  bgl.  (=  bcrgtcidjen,  similar 
cases) ;  u.  a.  m.  ( =  unb  anbere  mef)r,  and  oth- 
ers); f.  (=  ftefye,  see);  f.  0.  (=  fief)  oben,  see 
above);  f.  u.  (=  fief)  untcn,  see  below);  u.  0. 
(=  unb  ofter,  passim);  fog.  (=  fogencmnt,  so- 
called);  9fofl.  (=  Sluffoge,  unaltered  edition) ; 
$tu3g.  (  =  5lu3gabe,  revised  edition);  2lbt.  (  = 
Stbtetfung,  division) ;  9lbf  djn.( =3lbf  djnttt,  section). 

After  ordinal  numbers  a  full  point  is  put 
where  we  put  '1st,  2nd',  &c,  thus:  1.  £>eft 
(or  1.  £.,  =  erfteS  £eft,  first  number);  2. 
93onb  (or  2.  33b.,  =  gtuetter  93ctnb,  second  vol- 
ume). This  full  point  is  often  mistaken  by 
compositors  and  readers  for  a  full  stop. 

For  &  in  '  &c.'  the  Germans  have  a  special 
character  2,  thus:  ic. 


Division  oj  Latin  Words  171 

DIVISION   OF  LATIN  WORDS 

The  general  rules  are  practically  Pris- 
cian's.  They  are  well  summarized  in  Gilder- 
sleeve's  Latin  Grammar. 

1.  'In  dividing  a  word  into  syllables, 
a  consonant  between  two  vowels  belongs  to 
the  second:  a-mo,  li-xa. 

2.  'Any  combination  of  consonants  that 
can  begin  a  word  (including  mn,  under 
Greek  influence)  belongs  to  the  following 
vowel;  in  other  combinations  the  first  con- 
sonant belongs  to  the  preceding  vowel :  a-sper, 
jau-stus,  li-bri,  a-mnis. 

3.  '  The  combinations  incapable  of  be- 
ginning a  word  are  (a)  doubled  consonants: 
sic-cus;  (b)  a  liquid  and  a  consonant:  al- 
mus,  am-bo,  an-guis,  ar-bor. 

4.  'Compounds  are  treated  by  the  best 
grammarians  as  if  their  parts  were  sepa- 
rate words:   ab-igo,  res-publica.1 

To  take  a  page  of  Cicero :  — 

con-sequi  so-lent  ex-ponimus  a-criter  cri-mi-no-se 
dili-gen-ter  a-gi  re-rum  con-se-quentium  miseri-cor- 
dia    com-movebitur    au-di-to-ris   a-ni-mus    osten-demus 


172       A  Practical  Guide  jor  Authors 

com-modis  cu-ius  cu-i  quo-rum  qui-bus-que  (not  qui- 
bu-sque)  us-que  (because  the  parts  are  separate)  ca- 
ptabimus  pote-statem  sub-i-ci-e-mus  pa-renti-bus  neces- 
sariis   cle-men-tia. 

Again :  — 

eius-modi,  cuitis-modi,  huius-modi  (not  eiu-smodi, 
&c.)  con-iun-clim  (I  should  suppose,  not  con-iunc- 
tim)  am-plifica-stis  e-stis  vetu-stas  hone-stus  onu-sius 
sus-cipere  sub-trahit  ad-trahit  in-struit  circu-it  simul- 
tate  re-ce-den-dum  di-co  di-xi-sti  di-xe-rat  di-ctum 
a-clum  au-ctus  ma-gnus  i-gnis  mali-gnus  pi-gnus  li- 
gna  pec-catum  demon-stra-stis  (I  am  rather  doubtful 
about  this)  ma-gis  ma-xime  dij-fi-cul-tas  la-brum  la- 
mna  lar-gus  lon-ge  di-gnus  sum-pserim  su-mo  sum- 
tnus  su-prema  propter-ea,  and  probably  pro-pter-ea 
(but  again  I  am  in  some  doubt)  dis-tin-ctus  dis-tin-guo 
ad-spedus  a-spedus  tem-ptavit  il-lu-stris.  Most  of 
these  are  already  adopted  in  editions  of  authority,  e.  g. 
Nobbe's  Cicero,  Haase's  Seneca. 

Robinson  Ellis. 


DIVISION   OF  GREEK  WORDS 

A  syllable  ends  in  a  vowel  except  — 
1.  If  a  consonant  is  doubled,   the  con- 
sonants are  divided. 
SrpaKowr-o-as  (Bacch.  *),  7roX-Xo3  (Thuc),  and 

SO  BaK-^os,  2a7r-<£co,  'At-0is. 

1  The  references  are  to  the  papyri. 


Division  o)  Greek  Words  173 

2.  If  the  first  of  two  or  more  consonants 
is  a  liquid  or  nasal,1  it  is  divided  from  the 
others. 

(TWO  Consonants)  afx-cpaKes,  iy-x*<nra\ov, 
Tep-wov  (Bacch.),  Trdv-T€<;  (ThuC.),  aX-(ros. 

(Three  consonants)  dv-Opw-rrots,  Ip-xOlvTos 
(Bacch.),  dv-8p(ov  (Thuc). 

But    fid-KTpOV,   KaTO-TTTpOV,   l-\dp6<i. 

(Four  Consonants)  6e\-KTpov,  h.ap.-irrpai 

3.  Compounds.  For  modern  printing 
the  preference  must  be  to  divide  the  com- 
pounds   7rap-6i'TO<s,    i<p-rjpT]fX€VO<;    (Thuc),    but 

dTrc-(3r)  may  stand  as  well  as  dir-ijBtj. 

H.  Stuart  Jones. 

1  Or  according  to  some,  if  it  is  <r — €Ka<r-Tos  (Hyp.  Blass  3, 
p.  rvii),  but  the  preference  is  for  v\f7-aroi,  eKOfxi-ffdrjtrav, 
/3ouAev«-cr0ai  (Thuc),  i-arp4<p0T]  (s.  v.  1.,  Bacch.). 


INDEX 


INDEX 


A  choice  of  publishers,  7,  10. 
A  common  misunderstanding 
as  to  American  and  English 
publishing  houses,  19. 
Accents,  150. 
Advance  royalties,  9,  45. 
Adverb,  71. 
Advertising,  15,  42. 
Agreements  and  contracts,  2S. 
a  specimen  form  of  con- 
tract, 30. 
terms,  etc.,  28. 
the  basis  of  a  royalty,  34. 
American   rules   for    spelling 

and  punctuation,  etc.,  60. 
Anglicized  words,  102. 
Announcements,  42,  44. 
Author's  copies,  34,  40. 
Author's  corrections  in  proof, 
51,58. 
cost  of,  51. 

Bindings  and  covers,  38,  41. 
Blue  pencil,  the,  5. 
British  market,  the,  19. 

how  to  secure  it,  19. 

and  American  publishers, 
19. 

Capital  letters,  61,  72. 

English  rules,  112. 

in  French,  142. 

in  German,  164. 
Century   Dictionary,  the,  61, 
82. 


Circulars,  42. 
Commission,  29. 
Common-school  books,  36. 
Complimentary  copies,  34,  40. 
Compounds,  69,  106. 
Contractions  generally,  77,  78, 
107,  155,  156. 
of  colloquial  expressions, 

78. 
of    Latin   words    not   in 

italic,  108. 
of  names  of  counties,  108. 
of  points  of  the  compass, 

109. 
of    Scripture    references, 
107. 
Contracts,  terms  of,  26. 
a  specimen  form  of,  30. 
liabilities  under,  29,  30. 
Copy,  preparation  of,  1. 
typewritten,  2. 
manuscript,  2. 
Copyright,  how  to  secure   it, 

ownership  and  control  of, 

17- 
of    American     books   in 

Great  Britain,  17,  22. 
Correcting  proof,  48,  51,  58. 
Cost  of  correcting  errors,  51. 
Covers    and    cover    designs, 

38- 

Cumulative  effect  of  publish- 
ing, 24,  25. 

Cuts  and  illustrations,  4,  52. 


r 


i78 


Index 


Dates,  136. 

Descriptive  circulars,  42,  44. 
Dictionary,  the   Century,  61, 
82. 

the  Standard,  61,  82. 

Webster's,  61,  62. 

Worcester's,  61,  62. 

the     New     English,    88, 
89. 
Digraphs,  in  English,  101. 

in  German,  169. 
Division  of  words,  in  English, 
61,  71,  11S. 

in  French,  153. 

in  German,  166. 

in  Greek,  172. 

in  Italian,  120. 

in  Latin,  171. 

in  Portuguese,  120. 

in  Spanish,  120. 
Dramatization,  rights,  29. 

Educational  books,  36. 
English  market,  the,  19. 

editions,  21. 
English  rules  for  spelling  and 

punctuation,  85,  86. 
Export  of  editions,  22. 
Express,  safest   way  to  send 

MSS.,  2. 
Extracts  and  quotations,  3. 

"  F."  proofs,  49. 
Figures  and  numerals,  134. 
Footnotes  and  notes,  3,  159. 
Foundry  proof,  49. 
French,  abbreviations,  154. 

accented  capitals,  149. 

accents,  150. 

capital   and    lower    case 
letters,  142. 


division  of  words,  153. 
hyphens,  150. 
italics,  159. 
metal  rules,  160. 
numerals,  158. 
quotation  marks,  160. 
reference  figures,  159. 
roman  and  italics,  159. 
spacing,  151. 
spelling,  141. 

Galley  proof,  48,  52. 
German,  abbreviations,  170. 

capital    and    lower    case 
letters,  164. 

division  of  words,  166. 

double  letters,  168,  169. 

hyphens,  165. 

in  Roman  type,  167. 

digraphs,  168,  169. 

metal  rules,  167. 

prefixes,  166. 

suffixes,  167. 

quotation  marks,  168. 

reformed  spelling,  164. 

spaced  words,  166. 

spelling,  163. 
Greek,  division  of  words,  172. 

How    a    publisher    may    be 

helped  by  an  author,  39. 
Hyphens,  in  English,  104. 
in  French,  150. 
in  German,  165. 

Illustrations  and  cuts,  4,  52. 
Index,  preparation  of,  51. 
Ink,  use  black,  2. 
Inserting     extra     sheets     in 

MSS.,  3. 
Inverted  commas,  76,  77,  130. 


Index 


179 


Italic  type,  when  to  use,  79, 80, 
102,103,  117,  159. 

Latin,  division  of  words,  171. 
Libel,  responsibility  for,  29. 
Literary  Agent,  the,  12. 

Mailing  or  expressing  MSS.,  2. 
Manuscript,  preparation  of,  1. 

size  and  kind  of  paper,  1. 

margins,  1. 

numbering  of  pages,  I. 

use  black  ink,  2. 

safest  way  to  send,  2. 

typewriting  versus  hand- 
writing, 2. 

mucilage  versus  pins,  4. 

footnotes  and  notes,  3. 

responsibility      for      the 
safety  of,  8. 
Margins  on  manuscript,  1. 
Miscellaneous  points  of  style, 

61,  78. 
MSS.,  see  Manuscript. 

New  English  Dictionary,  the, 

88,  89. 
Notes  and  footnotes,  3,  159. 
Numbers,  61,  80,  158. 
Numbering  sheets  of  MS.,  1. 

chapters,  1. 
Numerals,  arabic,  134. 

French,  143. 

roman,  134,  137. 

Offering    a    MS.   to    a    pub- 
lisher, 7. 
Over-running,  49. 

Paper,  best  kind   for  MSS., 
1,41. 


Phonetic  spelling,  101. 
Pins,  avoid  the  use  of,  4. 
Plates,  cost  of  correction  in, 

50. 
Plurals,  formation  of,  in  words 

of  foreign  origin,  99. 
Points,  punctuation  marks,  75. 

decimal,  135. 

full,  when  to  omit,  136. 

in  title-pages,  134. 

of  the  compass,  70. 
Presentation  copies,  40. 
Press  copies,  46. 

notices,  39,  42. 
Price,  factors  in  determining, 

Proof-reading,  48. 
Proof,   signs  used   in  correct- 
ing, 54- 
correction,  cost  of,  51. 

specimen  pages,  48. 

plate,  correction  of,  50,  51. 

of  illustrations,  4,  52. 

page  of,  showing  marks 
of  correction,  58,  59. 

reading,  48. 
Publisher,    the,   his    financial 
standing,  7,  11. 

his    publishing     machin- 
ery, 7. 

his      prestige     and      its 
value,  7. 

his       responsibility      for 
safety  of  MSS.,  8. 

his   purposes    in    adver- 
tising, 42. 

how  to  choose  your,  7, 10. 
Punctuation     generally,      75, 
120-134. 

colon,  126. 

comma,  75,  76, 123. 


i8o 


Index 


dash,  128. 

note  of  exclamation,  127. 
note  of  interrogation,  126. 
period  or  full  stop,  126. 
semicolon,  76,  125. 
in  relation  to  footnotes, 
134- 

Query  or  "  Qy  "  on  the  mar- 
gin, 50. 
Quotation  marks,  76,  131. 
in  French,  160. 
in  German,  168. 
inverted  commas,  76,  77. 
Quotations  from  other  books, 
3.  77- 

References  generally,  108, 159. 
to  the  Bible,  108. 
to    footnotes,     108,    134, 

i36.  x59- 
to    Shakespeare's    plays, 

109. 
Reviews,  46. 

Royalties,  advance,  9,  45. 
in  England,  33. 
on  educational  books,  35, 
36,  37- 


Scandalous    matter,    author's 

responsibility,  29. 
Serial  rights,  26. 
Short  stories,  13. 
Signs  used   in   proof-reading, 

54- 

Size  of  book,  41. 

of  page,  41,  48. 
Spacing  generally,  61,  81, 115. 

in  French,  151. 
Specimen    pages  sent   to  the 

author,  48. 
Speculative  publishing,  44,  45. 
Spelling,  American  rules,  60, 
61. 

English  rules,  85. 

French  rules,  141. 

German  rules,  163. 
Standard  Dictionary,  61,  82. 

Text-books,  35,  36,  37. 
Title-pages,  134. 
Translations,  29. 
Type,  sizes  used  in  books,  57. 
Typewriting  preferable,  2. 

Webster's  Dictionary,  61,  62. 
Worcester's  Dictionary,  61,62. 


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